Friday, June 2, 2023

WatIAM users need to change their passwords today

If you've got an active WatIAM account, you've got to change your password.

That's the message that Vice-President, Administration and Finance Jacinda Reitsma sent to the University community this morning after Information Systems & Technology (IST) successfully completed an internal system reset that undid any damage from the ransom attack on our online systems that happened earlier this week.

And when we say the University community, we mean it: the message about how to change your WatIAM password went to literally everybody with a WatIAM account: students, faculty, staff, alumni, and retirees. Drive around the Ring Road? You gotta change your password. Walk across campus one time? You gotta change your password. Ever connect to eduroam? You get the idea.

The Vice-President's memo contains instructions on how to change your WatIAM password with a minimum of fuss. First off, you should copy and paste, or just type, this URL into your web browser: idm.uwaterloo.ca/watiam. You may need to delete your browser's cache lest you get a "we're down for maintenance" message. Here's a step-by-step guide:

1. Log into WatIAM using your 8-character UWaterloo username (e.g. myuserna)  and your current password. 

2. Click on the Change Password button. 

3. Enter your new password into the Password and Confirm Password fields. The new password must be different from your old password--do not reuse a password. 

4. Once submitted, click on your name at the top-right corner of the page and select Logout.  

If you follow these instructions, your password will be reset across all of your UWaterloo accounts such as Quest, Learn, Workday, WaterlooWorks, and Outlook. If you have used your UWaterloo password for non-UWaterloo accounts, it is advised to also change those passwords now.

Refer to the change your WatIAM password article for guidance if need be, and make sure you create a strong password.  

"We recommend that you change your password right away," Reitsma writes. "You must create a new password by Thursday, June 8. When that time expires, you will be locked out of your account and will need to contact IST to unlock it for you."

"If you manage a service, general or shared account, such as communications@uwaterloo.ca for example, you must also create a new WatIAM password for every account within this timeframe," Reitsma's memo continues. "Otherwise, these accounts will be locked as well, and it will take time for IST to unlock them."

If you have any questions, please visit our FAQs on the IST website, or email helpdesk@uwaterloo.ca.

Inclusion is a fundamental component of well-being

By Dr. Christine Zaza, Disability Inclusion Team. This article is presented as part of a series highlighting National AccessAbility Week in Canada.

Accessibility means being inclusive when we design events, workshops, courses, products and services.

Melissa Potwarka, a doctoral candidate in the School of Public Health Sciences, understands the importance of designing for inclusion. Seeing a connection between inclusion and well-being, Potwarka’s PhD research focuses on how the universal design for learning (UDL) framework can support the well-being of students and instructors. 

“I think that what makes universal design for learning kind of unique in the context of well-being is that it calls for the use of flexible and multiple learning strategies that centre around the needs of all students,” Potwarka says. “It offers instructors strategies that confront systemic issues that often disadvantage individuals with disabilities or other equity-deserving identities while fostering learning environments that are responsive to our diverse student body.”.

Supervised by Dr. Kelly Skinner, Potwarka’s research is funded by a SSHRC Insight Development Grant. As Potwarka suggests, researching UDL and well-being is timely.

“There’s so much we learned in the pandemic that actually made learning easier and more accessible, which, of course, indirectly and directly impacts well-being. And so, some of the rush that we experience and feel to get back to pre-pandemic life and teaching means that we’re losing sight of many of these positives that we learned in the pandemic, and I don’t think we can afford to do this.”

Potwarka points out that higher education is at a critical point for teaching, learning and well-being.

“I feel like many of our instructors and students need help right now,” she observes.

Potwarka was inspired by Waterloo professor Dr. Jay Dolmage’s book, Academic Ableism. Motivated by Dolmage’s caution against over-simplifying UDL through checklists, Potwarka has advocated for a whole-systems, collaborative approach to learning about UDL and well-being through the development of a community of practice.

A community of practice is a formal or informal group of practitioners who come together to learn and share ideas on the development of skills and knowledge.

“Whenever you can infuse humanity and connection into your learning and into your work with genuine care and support, I think the better off we will all be.”

Leadathon 2023 brings Indigenous ways of knowing into the Canadian Engineering Grand Challenges

A message from the Faculty of Engineering.

On Saturday, March 26, 2023, the University of Guelph, University of Manitoba and the University of Waterloo hosted the second engineering Leadathon, the culmination of a project supported by the D2L Innovation Guild.

The Leadathon is a national competition held online, aimed at expanding the leadership mindset within the framework of the Canadian Engineering Grand Challenges. This year the Leadathon was about Weaving Indigenous Ways of Knowing into the Canadian Engineering Grand Challenges, with a goal of raising awareness and building capacity around Indigenous Knowledge for engineering students.

Participants tackled complex socio-technical case-studies relevant to Canada’s Indigenous communities and gained insight into how Western and Indigenous worldviews can be synthesized to address emerging societal issues.

Elder William (Bill) Woodworth, PhD, the Elder in Residence at the University of Waterloo Faculty of Engineering opened the Leadathon with a traditional land acknowledgement and thanksgiving address.

Leading the Leadathon was a team of 4 faculty members: Nadine Ibrahim (University of Waterloo), Christine Moresoli (University of Waterloo), John Donald (University of Guelph), and Kathryn Atamanchuk (University of Manitoba); and 11 student facilitators. On event day, 8 judges from multiple Canadian institutions supported the event.

Centered around the Canadian Engineering Grand Challenges (CEGC) identified by Engineering Deans Canada, the six CEGC are:

1. Resilient infrastructure
2. Access to affordable, reliable and sustainable energy
3. Access to safe water in all communities
4. Inclusive, safe, and sustainable cities
5. Inclusive and sustainable industrialization
6. Access to affordable and inclusive STEM education

Participating student teams were prompted to weave Indigenous Ways of Knowing into the Canadian Engineering Grand Challenges in a facilitated workshop format using visualizations and case studies. The specific Indigenous Ways of Knowing concepts that were presented during the Leadathon are:

1. Land-based Learning
2. Seven Generations Principle
3. Traditional Ecological Knowledge
4. Sharing Circles
5. Inspiration from Nature
6. Two-eyed Seeing

Student teams were prompted to analyze a CEGC case-study about contemporary Indigenous issues, through an Indigenous knowledge lens. The teams focused on developing a framework to better engage with Indigenous communities to understand their needs in relation to the CEGC case study.

Teams had an hour and a half to create, finalize and submit their visualizations. They focused on defining a relevant problem space and developing a framework to both address their selected CEGC while framing it around one of the concepts of the Indigenous Ways of Knowing of their choice in their submission. All teams prepared creative submissions, impressing the judges with their inspiration and innovation.

Overall, this second annual Leadathon was a great success, with students noting that in working with their teams, they gained leadership and teamwork skills and developed a better understanding how Indigenous Ways of Knowing can apply to modern challenges. A total of 29 students participated from 4 Canadian universities (University of Guelph, University of Manitoba, University of Waterloo, and York University), making up 9 teams with three teams receiving prizes for best capturing how to Weave Indigenous Ways of Knowing into the Canadian Engineering Grand Challenges.

The three winning teams were:

Team 2 – Access to affordable, reliable and sustainable energy

• Megan Davidson (Guelph), Manjyot Kalkat (Manitoba), Yiming Luo (York)

Team 4 – Inclusive, safe and sustainable cities

• Zeena Abdelbasit (Guelph), Ilyas Abdullahi (York), Mercy Onwuteaka (Manitoba)

Team 5 – Inclusive and sustainable industrialization

• Sage van Kooten(Guelph), Syed Mustafa Jamal (York), Daniel Wilson (Manitoba)

Alumni Weekend kicks off today

A message from the Office of Advancement.

This weekend, more than 1,000 alumni and friends will return to campus for reunion events, anniversary celebrations and more. Alumni Weekend, the University's flagship event for alumni, kicks off today, with programs running through Saturday evening.

The celebrations begin tonight, at a special screening of the alumni-produced documentary Rock This Town, followed by Faculty-led tours, festivities and learning opportunities on Saturday. On-campus programming ends with the Forever Black and Gold Luncheon, a special celebration for alumni celebrating their 25^th, 50^th, 55^th and 60^th anniversaries. Classes celebrating milestone anniversaries will also take part in activities around Waterloo Region through the weekend.

Water, Water, Water! Here's to a great weekend of fun, friends and fond memories!