Monday, May 26, 2025

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• Celebrating ongoing work to advance campus accessibility: National AccessAbility Week and the Disability Affinity Program

• Applications open for Student Life Endowment Fund

• How AI is transforming assessment in WIL and PD courses

• Table Talk on queer data and other notes

Celebrating ongoing work to advance campus accessibility: National AccessAbility Week and the Disability Affinity Program

A message from the Office of the Associate Provost, Campus Support and Accessibility.

National AccessAbility Week (NAAW) occurs from May 25 to May 31 and is a celebration led by the Government of Canada. NAAW is a time to recognize the contributions of Canadians with disabilities and to raise awareness about the critical need for accessibility and inclusion in our communities.

This year, the Office of the Associate Provost, Campus Support and Accessibility, including the Campus Accessibility team, will be observing NAAW by celebrating a different University initiative each day that demonstrates a commitment to advancing accessibility and disability inclusion. Today, we are featuring our Disability Affinity Program.

The Disability Affinity Program is a space for University of Waterloo students, staff, and faculty to seek peer support, community, and collaboration. The program comprises the Student Disability Community Network and the Employee Disability Community Network, which aredesigned for campus members with lived experience of disability. Additionally, the program includes the Accessibility Ally Network a network designed for all campus members to network, collaborate, and learn.

The Disability Affinity Program was designed through community engagement and builds off best practices from other campus community networks, including the Black Faculty Collective, the Queer Trans Alliance, the Glow Centre, RAISE, and the Women’s Centre. These networks aim to support individuals from equity-denied communities in finding peer connection and support. Community networks are an essential part of building inclusive campuses where all students, staff, and faculty feel that they belong and are valued.

You can participate in the Disability Affinity Program by joining the Student or Employee Disability Community Network email list or the Accessibility Ally Network Microsoft Team. Questions about the Disability Affinity Program can be directed to aoda@uwaterloo.ca or 519-888-4567 x43428.

Applications open for Student Life Endowment Fund

By Samir Sharma.

The Student Life Endowment Fund (SLEF) has just opened applications for its Spring 2025 funding round.

This is a fund designed for undergraduate students or groups that are student-driven. SLEF gives away hundreds of thousands of dollars each year to improve student life.

SLEF funds the following types of projects:

• The improvement of health, wellness, and safety on all campuses;
• The improvement of accessibility on all campuses;
• The renovation of student-operated or managed spaces;
• Connecting students to available university resources;
• The improvement of current lounge and study spaces;
• Activities that are academic in nature and/or enhances the learning and development of students;
• Joint projects with Municipal or Regional governments that improve student well-being; and
• Social activities that enhance student life on campus.

We also have a separate funding pool for projects that fall under these topics:

• Equity: Promoting a safer, healthier and more accepting campus.
• Opportunity: Individual students or student groups who wish to engage in projects, conferences, or other experiences that further professional development. Funding should not typically exceed $500 per student.
• Innovation: New student-led initiatives that will provide a lasting benefit to undergraduate students and/or promote innovation on campus.

The deadline to apply is June 4^.

If you would like to learn more, you can visit the WUSA website or contact slef@wusa.ca.

How AI is transforming assessment in WIL and PD courses

By Matthew King. This is an excerpt of an article originally published on the Centre for Work-Integrated Learning's website.

The Centre for Work-Integrated Learning’s (WIL) adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in the WIL courses portfolio has taken another step forward in its three-phase plan.

The unit's AI Strategy initiative started in late 2023 by conducting an environmental scan of AI across campus and developing an AI policy for all PD/WIL courses for the winter 2024 offering. In phase two, the Centre for WIL introduced the responsible use of AI educational module in PD 10: Professional Responsibility in Computing and PD 13: Research in the Workplace.

This module, available to students in all faculties, aims to foster an understanding of ethical AI practices and the implications of AI in various fields. Now in phase three, the unit is implementing AI-enabled activities and assessments, further enhancing students' engagement and preparing them for future challenges in the evolving landscape of AI.

"We launched the responsible use of AI module in fall, and the feedback from students has been overwhelmingly positive," says Evana Delay, lead, work-integrated learning course management.

“We’re thinking about the ways in which we can have students interact with, engage with, and leverage AI in their courses to make them future-ready.”

Following the module implementation, the unit focused on integrating AI into activities and assessments. The aim of this phase is to explore how AI tools can enhance WIL courses and evaluation methods.

“We are allowing students in PD10 to use AI to help brainstorm some ideas as part of their assignment. We're then asking them whether they leveraged AI to help craft a response,” Delay says. “For spring 2025, we're planning to launch a new assignment in PD13, which will be paired with the module. Students will experiment with AI tools and critically evaluate the results. They’ll consider how to use AI in their assignments and document their use of GenAI appropriately.”

Read the full story on the Centre for Work-Integrated Learning's website.

Table Talk on queer data and other notes

"Staff and faculty are invited to join us for an insightful presentation on the challenges and best practices for collecting and interpreting data about queer, trans, and non-binary communities," says a note from the Office of Equity, Diversity, Inclusivity and Anti-Racism (EDI-R). "We’ll explore what constitutes "queer and trans" data, the issues associated with “cis-washing and pink washing,” and how to critically analyze survey and questionnaire results. Plus, we’ll share key recommendations for ensuring safety, anonymity, and confidentiality in data collection, storage, and reporting.

The event takes place on June 16 from 12 noon to 1:30 p.m. in the EDI-R office on the second floor of East Campus 5 and online. The session will conclude with the opportunity for open discussion and questions.

Register today!

"Are you looking for free energy-saving equipment for your lab?" asks the Sustainability Office. "The Green Labs program is happy to provide power bars and outlet timers to labs not currently engaged in the Green Labs program. Membership in the program is not necessary."

Please email sustainability@uwaterloo.ca for more information.

If you feel like you're trying to keep too many balls in the air, this webinar series from the Centre for Teaching Excellence might just be for you. "Are you feeling overwhelmed by the need to address multiple institutional priorities in your courses, such as mental wellbeing, Indigenization, and accessibility?" asks the CTE. "This series aims to provide a supportive community for instructors, offering a space for discussion and sharing of best practices. By learning from peers and building connections, we hope to make the task of juggling institutional priorities more manageable and less overwhelming. We envision holding these sessions once a term for the next year."

Information Systems & Technology (IST) has published the latest in the Atlassian blog series entitled Feature Spotlight: Add Boards & Calendars Directly to JSM Queues!