CTE Liaison

The Faculty of Mathematics offers many resources and supports for individuals with teaching-related responsibilities, which includes support from the Centre for Teaching Excellence Math Faculty Liaison, Matthew Babela.

Matthew provides support for a variety of teaching and learning initiatives:

• Course Design: course design or re-design for various formats (in-person, blended, flipped), gathering and incorporating student feedback
• Assessments: assessment and activity design, grading schemes, peer review and group assessment
• Educational Technology: best practices for using LEARN, selecting appropriate technology & getting set up (LEARN, Crowdmark, Piazza, Mobius, etc.), strategies for effectively using educational technology in your teaching
• Teaching Community: Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), CTE resources, events, and workshops, individual and group training sessions, teaching observations
• Universal Design for Learning: Accessibility of learning and assessments, equity, diversity, and inclusion Or just chatting about anything related to your teaching!

Both instructors and graduate students with teaching responsibilities can receive support. Feel free to send a Teams message or e-mail Matthew

1. CTE Teaching Tips: CTE has developed an extensive collection of more than 150 Teaching Tips, which are evidence-based ideas and strategies for effective teaching and learning. Some popular topics in Math:

2. CTE Workshops and Events: CTE offers workshops every term on a wide range of topics. Check back each month for updates! Additional specific programming is available for:

3. Ed Tech Hub: The EdTech Hub pulls together information regarding our centrally supported educational technology tools to help you decide which EdTech tool(s) may suit your use and how to get support. Some popular technologies in Math:

• LEARN: There is extensive help documentation from ITMS for all LEARN-related tools. To contact LEARN Help directly for technical support, e-mail learnhelp@uwaterloo.ca. LEARN course templates are also available and can help improve student navigation and enhance the look and feel of your course.
• Crowdmark: ITMS has created help documentation for common Crowdmark functionalities, including the integration with LEARN and Odyssey. Additional technical support (including printing via WPrint) can be found on the UWaterloo Crowdmark page at the bottom.
• Odyssey: ITMS has created help documentation on how to create and upload an exam into Odyssey. There is also additional detailed help documentation.
• Möbius: Documentation tailored to the University of Waterloo environment for instructors using, and authoring, content in möbius is available. Additional technical help requests can be submitted to the Jira Portal via 'Möbius - Request Help'.

4. Self-Directed Courses on LEARN: There free self-directed courses available on LEARN. They are ongoing and asynchronous, so you can complete them at your own pace.

•  Independent Blended Course Design (iBlend)
•  Supporting Student Mental Health (for Instructors)
•  Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) Methods

5. Student Success: As an instructor in the Faculty of Math, you may receive requests from students for all types of support. Students have many resources available to them, to name a few:

6. Teaching Fellow: The Math Teaching Fellow provides their expertise in all matters related to teaching excellence in the Faculty of Mathematics. They also maintain the Math Teaching Development Fund, where you can receive funding for professional development activities related to teaching.

7. Math Teaching Seminar: These seminars are bi-weekly events hosted by the Faculty of Mathematics to discuss teaching strategies, best practices, and emerging trends. These communal events bring together a diverse group of UWaterloo educators and external guest speakers to present their ideas and brainstorm with peers about how to best instill an appreciation and understanding of mathematics and computer science.