Tuesday, September 15, 2020

Peer Leader training open to all students

A message from the Student Success Office.

For the fall 2020 term, the Student Success Office is opening its Foundational Training Program (FTP) for Peer Leaders to all students. Established in 2018, this leadership development opportunity was previously only available to students who had been hired as mentors in existing campus peer programs. Now, students who are interested in developing or enhancing skills critical for successful mentorship can opt to participate in this free program at any time.

In the spring 2020 term, the FTP for Peer Leaders trained 639 current students, including 311 Waterloo Ready Peer Mentors. Program participants learned to:

• broaden their knowledge of campus by learning how to refer mentees to the campus resources that fit their needs;
• build on communication skills to know how to stay in conversation, engage mentees, and celebrate important milestones; and
• connect with a network of mentors from peer groups across campus to understand how a mentorship role can lead to a successful transition into the workplace.

While the FTP for Peer Leaders is typically delivered in a combination of online modules and an in-person workshop, the program will be offered online only for the fall 2020 term. Registration for the FTP for Peer Leaders is open now in Portal.

Waterloo launches Work-Learn Institute – a living lab for talent

By Beth Gallagher. This article originally appeared on Waterloo Stories.

As the global pandemic forces students, businesses and entire industries to adapt to rapid change, the University of Waterloo is deepening its commitment to developing resilient talent for the future with the launch of the Work-Learn Institute (WxL).

“We have the greatest young talent database in the world to fuel our research into work-integrated learning,” says Norah McRae, associate provost, co-operative and experiential education. “The Work-Learn Institute will be instrumental in helping our employers, our students and our institution understand and respond to the complexity of today’s workplace.”

Waterloo’s globally renowned co-operative education program is the heart of the Work-Learn Institute’s vast young-talent database, but McRae points out that the institute is expanding its research focus beyond co-operative education to include all forms of work-integrated learning.

More than 70 per cent of Waterloo undergraduate students are in the co-op program, a form of work-integrated learning where students alternate between four-month terms of academic study and four-months of paid, full-time work. The University also has a program called EDGE which enables students to integrate learning with other types of experiences, such as community work.

McRae says evidence-based, high-quality programs are critical at a time when business leaders are looking for ways to to develop resilient, adaptable talent during this time of rapid change. The Government of Canada has invested more than $1 billion in the last five years in real-world learning opportunities to prepare the next generation of talent.

An incubator for new models of work-integrated learning

The Work-Learn Institute will serve as a living research lab and incubator, testing new models of work-integrated learning, to evolve programs that will meet the changing demands of the labour force. “With its vast employer network of more than 7,000 organizations in 65 countries around the world, Waterloo has an unprecedented opportunity to better understand and meet the talent needs of industry,” says Judene Pretti, director of the Work-Learn Institute.

Waterloo has demonstrated since 1957 that work-integrated learning can be a “win-win” for students and employers with every $1 a business invests in a Waterloo co-op student, there is a $2 economic gain.

Some of the Work-Learn Institute research projects and findings include:

• A framework for employers and educators that supports quality work-integrated experiences
• The development of a Future Ready Talent Framework that highlights the competencies needed to navigate the future of work
• A Quality Work Integrated Learning Framework that emphasizes the alignment of aims, actions and achievements
• Students with a lifelong learning mindset score higher on career success measures
• How work-integrated programs help employers develop their talent pipelines
• The “values gap” between Generation Z and their future employers.

Working together with the University’s Centre for Career Action and co-operative education and work-integrated learning units, McRae says the University wants the Work-Learn Institute to be the world’s leading research and development institute for co-operative education and work-integrated learning.

Register for the upcoming Work-Learn institute webinar.

Water Institute introduces WaterLeadership training series

A message from the Water Institute.

WaterLeadership is a new program offered by the Water Institute that will help students and faculty develop applied research impact skills to help catalyze knowledge into action. The training sessions cover a range of topics related to Knowledge Mobilization (KM) and leadership development. 

Curated, developed and presented by our Knowledge Mobilization Specialist, the following modules are designed to meet the following learning objectives for participants:

• Enhance understanding of knowledge mobilization to increase the credibility, salience and legitimacy of your science, thereby contributing to the building of a culture of trust in evidence-based science.
• Learn how to build sustainable partnerships and collaborations that embed water sciences in public, private and nonprofit sector decision-making at local, regional, national and global levels.
• Apply KM tools and techniques to co-create scientific knowledge with communities that use it to accelerate the advancement and impact of water science.

Upcoming WaterLeadership training

• September 22: Project Management Skills for Students
• October 6: Canadian Policy 101
• November 3: Develop a Knowledge Mobilization Plan for Grant Proposals
• November 17: Get Published: Tips from Editors-in-Chief

WUSA execs share action plans; other notes

"The 2020-2021 Waterloo Undergraduate Student Association (WUSA) Executive are excited to share this year's action plan with University stakeholders," says a note from WUSA. "If you’re interested in learning what WUSA will be focusing on, where you might fit into the plan or how you can support and align with student efforts, we'd love to see you there!" 

"Please choose from one of the three available dates and provide us with your information. We will be following up in advance of the presentation with the meeting link. Don't forget to add the date and time to your calendars.

• September 16, 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
• September 23, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
• September 29, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

The University's Senate meets on Monday, September 21 at 3:30 p.m. The agenda is posted on the Secretariat website. As always, guest observers are welcome. If you would like to attend the meeting as a guest observer, please contact Emily Schroeder to request to join the meeting. All requests must be received by Friday, September 18 at noon.

The Committee on Student Mental Health will be hosting the University of Waterloo's inaugural Virtual Conference on Student Mental Health Research on November 5 as part of Thrive Week. The goal of this event is to bring together members of the Waterloo community to share knowledge, connect researchers, and promote mental wellness. "We will be accepting submissions for presentations from UWaterloo students, faculty, and staff until 11:59 p.m. EDT on October 9," says a note from the conference organizers. "Visit our web page to submit your abstract today. If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact our team at cosmh@uwaterloo.ca."