2018 changes

This page collects all of the noteworthy changes made to PD courses during 2018. If you want to see our most recent changes, visit the up-to-date course changes page.

All courses

Term implemented	Summary of changes	Why are we making the changes?
Fall 2018	We added résumé bullet points as an additional resource throughout the course.	Students sometimes struggle to articulate their learning in PD courses to potential employers. Adding résumé bullet points gives students a basic set of outcomes and skills gained they can modify to suit their needs.

PD1

Term implemented	Unit/assessment affected	Summary of changes	Why are we making the changes?
Fall 2018	Navigating PD1 video	We updated the video to reflect changes to LEARN's user interface.	Providing an up-to-date screen capture using the new menus in Daylight will help students navigate their first PD course.
Fall 2018	Unit 2	We added additional content and links to Co-op 2.0 initiatives to the unit.	Co-op 2.0 initiatives can help students find jobs during their first work term. Adding information about GreenHouse co-op, flexible work terms, the co-op research certificate, and jobs restricted to first work term students makes it easier for students to find this information.
Fall 2018	Unit 4	We updated the Tatham Centre interview videos to reflect new processes.	Updating the videos better aligns the course with current processes and gives students the most up-to-date possible information.
Fall 2018	Personal pitch, cover letter	We updated the dropbox instructions.	Students were submitting their personal pitch and cover letter without competing the worksheet, which includes reflective prompts to help create the final product. Adding instructions to the corresponding dropboxes will address this issue.
Fall 2018	Unit 9	We updated the quiz questions to help students choose their next PD electives.	The existing quiz questions wouldn't have been effective now that résumé bullet points have been added to our courses and website. The questions now encourage students to review the suite of PD courses and bullet points, and explain why they'd like to develop the skills taught in our courses.
Spring 2018	Cover letter	Students now answer prompting questions that can be compiled in a cover letter instead of critiquing a cover letter embedded in the content. The activity's gradebook weight and content remained the same.	The original bonus activity didn't help students write a cover letter for their own applications. Many students have asked for an assignment in which their own cover letters are evaluated. The new bonus activity helps students develop their cover letter writing skills while still giving them an opportunity for bonus marks.
Spring 2018	Interview questions	The interview questions now have a Week 3 soft deadline and a new Week 4 hard deadline. The questions are now due right after the mock interview event. All other Unit 1-4 exercises still have a Week 5 hard deadline.	Creating a new deadline solely for the interview questions evens out the schedule and gives students a better chance to pass the course. The interview questions are worth 25%, so it's difficult to pass the course without completing them. Providing a separate deadline means students no longer risk losing out on 37.5% of their grade (interview questions and the Unit 1-4 exercises) at one deadline. The new deadline also allows students who submit by the soft deadline (Week 3) to receive feedback on their interview questions before main round interviews begin.
Spring 2018	Personal pitch	The self-introduction has been replaced by the personal pitch. Students are asked a series of questions and compile their answers into one final pitch. The assignment is worth 15%, a weight comparable to that of the self-introduction.	Changing this assignment gives students a better idea of the pieces that go into creating a strong personal pitch. The guiding questions encourage students to reflect throughout the assignment. The self-introduction was worth 15% but only marked out of four, so even one-mark deductions could have a major impact on students' grades. The new personal pitch assignment is graded out of 12, so students have a better chance at overall success.

PD1 EDGE

Term implemented	Unit/assessment affected	Summary of changes	Why are we making the changes?
Fall 2018	Unit 1	We added a link to an online personality assessment.	Students are asked throughout the course whether a job satisfies their personality preferences. Many students haven't had the vocabulary or knowledge to describe their preferences, and encouraging them to complete this assessment will help them with those descriptions.
Fall 2018	Unit 3, Unit 10	We updated worksheets and rubrics to help clarify expectations.	Some students were missing the mark when it came to questions regarding implicit and explicit values. We also updated the cover letter rubric to better inform students of what's needed in an outstanding cover letter.
Spring 2018	Unit 4 activity: Part B and Unit 7 activity: Part B	We updated the discussion board prompts in these activities.	Students reported that they weren't using the discussion board much and rarely read their classmates' responses. We updated the prompts to make them more engaging and helpful for students, in turn encouraging reading and replying.
Spring 2018	Units 4-9	We added new "Competitive EDGE" resources to each unit.	Students expressed an interest in more networking resources, and we added "Competitive EDGE" resources throughout Units 4-9 to meet this need.
Spring 2018	Unit 6	We edited the assignment to include more context about its purpose and relevance in the real world.	Students didn't feel comfortable recording themselves as part of the interview questions activity. We added a explanation of why practicing out loud is beneficial, and why recording yourself is a helpful strategy when preparing for interviews.

PD3

Term implemented	Unit/assessment affected	Summary of changes	Why are we making the changes?
Fall 2018	Unit 2 assessment	We edited the assessment description and rubric to include more detail and greater clarity.	Students were having trouble incorporating course material in their submissions. Editing the assessment will help students be successful.
Fall 2018	Unit 6 assessment	We edited the assessment rubric to include more detail re: grading and feedback.	Adding more detail to the rubric will help students understand how their assessments are being graded and clarify their feedback.
Fall 2018	All units	Students who submit their assessments by the soft deadlines will receive their grades and feedback earlier.	Some students felt like they had to wait too long to receive their grades and feedback when meeting the soft deadlines. Releasing grades and feedback earlier will satisfy these students and allow them to incorporate their feedback into future assessments.

PD4

Term implemented	Unit/assessment affected	Summary of changes	Why are we making the changes?
Spring 2018	Commonplace book quizzes	Students can now use late days on all assessments, including the commonplace book quizzes.	Students often assumed they were able to use their late days on all assessments. While the commonplace book quizzes weren't originally included, students can now use their late days on all assessments. This limits confusion around late days and allows for greater flexibility.

PD5

Term implemented	Unit/assessment affected	Summary of changes	Why are we making the changes?
Fall 2018	All units	We added course notes as an additional resource throughout the course.	It isn't always easy to remember concepts from a previous unit that might be useful for an assignment. Adding course notes gives students a new resource they can use for assignment preparation and course review. Students can also download course notes for use after finishing their PD course.
Fall 2018	Unit 6 assessment	We added details to the "key tasks" section of the assignment template for better alignment with the case study.	Students appreciate having clear examples to guide them toward success on assignments. Adding more detailed key tasks helps students understand the expected quality of their work.
Winter 2018	Units 3-4, 6-7, 9 assessment rubrics	We refined rubrics in each of the units listed.	Improving the assessment rubrics ensures students are familiar with the benchmarks defining strong submissions. We also made sure the rubrics aligned with the new PD5 case study. Clarifying rubrics also helps course operation by increasing part-time marker consistency.

PD6

Term implemented	Unit/assessment affected	Summary of changes	Why are we making the changes?
Fall 2018	All units	We adjusted the course's look and feel by creating a new infographic depicting the whole course, new unit banners, and unit pages redesigned around scrolling rather than clicking.	Students have told us that seeing a path through the course from beginning to end (in an infographic) helps them understand the big picture. Adding the infographic and using it as the basis for new unit banners reinforces that bigger picture for students. Scrolling unit pages are becoming standard in e-learning, with users reporting that scrolling (vs. clicking) works better on mobile devices.
Fall 2018	All units	We reduced the number of assignments from eight to six. Some assignments now address learning outcomes from multiple units.	Students are busy, especially at the beginning of the term. We removed deadlines from the first two weeks of the term to recognize that hectic period, and we added more flexibility so students can work through the course at a wider variety of paces.
Fall 2018	All units	We revised lectures to make the connection between problem-solving skills and employability more explicit. We added new lectures featuring the instructors to Units 1 and 10, and we added a supplemental video to Unit 2.	Students need to know the answer to the question, "Why do I need to learn this?" Making the connection to employability clearer answers this question. Students also appreciate an instructor presence in their courses, so we made sure the course's instructors were visible at its beginning and end.
Fall 2018	Units 1, 5-6, 9	We added interactive, ungraded practice activities to the listed units.	Students appreciate interactivity in PD courses. Adding interactivity to the course through practice activities helps students develop comfort with the course material before submitting an assignment for grades.
Fall 2018	All units	We added new and updated TED Talks throughout the course. We also added complementary thinking questions and summaries to some TED Talks.	Past PD6 students have left positive feedback on the TED Talks in the course, and updating the talks ensures they're still fresh and informative.
Fall 2018	Units 2, 5, 10	We added new videos featuring reflection from students and campus partners to the listed units.	Asking co-op and EDGE students, entrepreneurs, and professors to share their problem-solving experiences helps student make connections between the course content and their own experiences.
Fall 2018	Unit 2	We added an interactive convergent-divergent problem-solving questionnaire to the unit, replacing a LEARN quiz.	The LEARN quiz previously used for this activity wasn't very user-friendly. The new questionnaire is more interactive and tabulates students' results for them, making for a better learning experience.
Fall 2018	Units 3-4, 6, 9	We added demonstrations of course concepts to the listed units.	It's not always easy to imagine applying PD course concepts to the "real world." Adding demonstrations makes it easier for students to do so.
Fall 2018	All units	We added additional resources throughout the course.	Students enjoy additional resources because they expand on the content but don't represent additional work. Adding new resources keeps this optional content engaging and relevant.
Fall 2018	All units	We added downloadable DOCX templates for each assignment.	Providing downloadable templates makes it easier for students to get right into completing assignments (rather than figuring out expectations and formatting).
Fall 2018	Unit 1	We added new content re: framing problem-solving skills using the "dragon-slaying" method.	Students need to know the answer to the question, "Why do I need to learn this?" Showing them how their problem-solving skills and experiences can be applied to job searches answers this question.
Fall 2018	Unit 5	We added more creative problem-solving models (including Waterloo student examples).	Students have expressed an interest in learning more about creative problem solving.
Fall 2018	Unit 7	We added new content re: reflective practice and the benefits of failure.	The benefits of failure are a popular concept right now, so we wanted to emphasize this topic and equip students with the skills they need to bounce back from failure.
Fall 2018	Unit 8	We added a new simulation re: overcoming barriers.	Students appreciate interactivity in PD courses, and simulations are a great way to inhabit someone else's perspective by making choices and reflecting upon them.
Fall 2018	Unit 9	We updated and expanded context statements and content re: communication and problem solving.	We updated this content to align with new materials from the Conflict Management and Human Rights office on campus.
Fall 2018	All units	We adjusted practice problems throughout the course.	Students appreciate having options in their assignments and the opportunity to reflect on their own experiences.

PD7

Term implemented	Unit/assessment affected	Summary of changes	Why are we making the changes?
Fall 2018	Assignments 2, 4	We edited various questions throughout the listed assignments.	Students were having trouble answering some questions throughout these assignments, earning lower marks than expected and reaching out to the course team for help. Refining these questions will help clarify them and improve student understanding.
Spring 2018	Unit 2 assessment	We swapped new articles covering recent events into the assessment.	The articles students were asked to analyze as part of the assessment had become dated. Replacing the articles with more recent ones makes the assessment more relevant and engaging.
Spring 2018	Unit 5 assessment, Unit 10 assessment	We adjusted the gradebook weighting of these assessments.	Students have commented on the large amount of time it takes to complete the Unit 10 Assessment compared to other assessments in PD7. This assessment is supposed to help students consolidate their learning throughout the course, and we increased its weight to reflect its importance.

PD8

Term implemented	Unit/assessment affected	Summary of changes	Why are we making the changes?
Spring 2018	Unit 3	We added a note of clarification re: the word "privacy" in the Chinese language. We also added additional articles re: the evolving nature of cultural attitudes.	Students provided us with an alternative viewpoint re: the Cultural Café video stating there's no word for "privacy" in the Chinese language. We added a note of clarification to acknowledge that the notion of privacy in China is currently in flux.
Spring 2018	Unit 9	We added new resources re: workplace wellness and self-care around the world.	Workplace and personal wellbeing is an increasingly popular topic, and adding new articles on this topic to the course helps keep its content fresh and engaging.
Winter 2018	Unit 6	We added the Michael Moore documentary Where to Invade Next to the lecture content.	Previous offerings of the course didn't include a Unit 6 assessment or formal learning material. Including Moore's documentary encourages students to develop their understanding of cultural values and attitudes from multiple perspectives.
Winter 2018	Unit 8 assessment	We added new technology to the assessment. Students now use DecisionSim to work through cross-cultural situations in a workplace instead of analyzing short videos.	Students have expressed an interest in more interactive content in PD8. The Unit 8 assessment was a good fit for a simulation because of the unit's focus on cross-cultural teamwork and relationships.
Winter 2018	Unit 9 assessment	We created a new assessment that revisits learning from an earlier unit using segments from a Michael Moore documentary and a TEDxTokyo talk on work-life balance.	Students have expressed interest in more flexibility with respect to assessments. Because there's no assessment in Unit 6, offering this new assessment gives students an opportunity to build upon their understanding of cultural attitudes towards work from the perspective articulated in Unit 9.
Winter 2018	Unit 10 assessment	We revised the final assessment to include more guided reflection and opportunities for students to make multi-level connections (i.e. to the course, to themselves, and to others).	Reshaping the final assessment to include multiple points of reflection helps students consolidate their learning. The revised assessment helps students grasp course concepts in a more meaningful way.
Winter 2018	Bonus assessment	We created a new assessment focused on microaggressions and their presence in the workplace instead of reinforcing other concepts covered in the course.	Students have identified microaggressions as a topic they'd like to explore in past end-of-course surveys. The new bonus assessment challenges students to engage with a difficult, important topic, deepening their understanding of intercultural skills.

PD9

Term implemented	Unit/assessment affected	Summary of changes	Why are we making the changes?
Fall 2018	All units	We added course notes as an additional resource throughout the course.	It isn't always easy to remember concepts from a previous unit that might be useful for an assignment. We added course notes to give students a new resource they can use for assignment preparation and course review. Students can also download course notes for use after finishing their PD course.
Fall 2018	Assignments 4-6	We edited various questions throughout the listed assignments.	Students were having trouble answering some questions throughout these assignments, earning lower marks than expected and reaching out to the course team for help. We refined these questions to clarify them and improve student understanding.

PD10

Term implemented	Unit/assessment affected	Summary of changes	Why are we making the changes?
Fall 2018	All units	We added new news articles to each unit.	We try to keep the news articles featured in the course current so students can more readily connect their course work to the world around them.
Fall 2018	Assignment 2	We added a sentence to the assignment's second question.	Students haven't been supporting their answers with elements of fair dealing and/or users' rights. Adding a sentence to the question will increase the clarity of what's being asked.
Fall 2018	Assignment 4	We added an instruction to the assignment.	Students haven't been explaining why their chosen products are safety-critical. Adding this instruction to the assignment will help students properly answer the question.
Fall 2018	Assignment 6	We redesigned the assignment to align with GDPR, the European Union's new data privacy laws. We added a question, revised the rubric, and added an article to help students understand the goals of GDPR.	We want to keep the course as current as possible. GDPR is a major milestone in the world of data privacy, and it should be incorporated into the course in some form.
Spring 2018	Assignment 1	We edited the assignment instructions to direct students to the definition of "course of employment."	Students have had some trouble understanding the definition of "course of employment" as used by CCA. Editing the instructions to include a link to its definition will clarify its meaning.
Spring 2018	Assignment 2	We edited the assignment instructions to ask students to evaluate potential copyright infringement using fair dealing, users' rights, and moral rights.	The edited version of the instructions more accurately represents the learning outcome of the question about infringement, and the importance of the question is more clear to students.
Spring 2018	Assignment 3 practice quiz	We converted the practice quiz from a short answer-based quiz to a multiple-select-based quiz.	The new version of the practice quiz more closely mirrors the graded quiz. Encouraging students to complete the practice quiz is more meaningful now that they're more closely linked.
Spring 2018	Assignment 4	We added a sentence encouraging students to think about multiple kinds of risks to the instructions.	Students haven't been thoroughly considering both hardware and software risks. Adding a clarifying sentence helps them understand expectations and guide their thinking.
Spring 2018	Assignment 6	We created a new assignment template and modified the assignment overview and submission instructions to include a new rubric.	Including a new template and rubric helps students understand the expectations and structure of the assignment. Students can focus on completing the assignment instead of coming up with their own organizational structure.
Spring 2018	Assignment 7	We added some context regarding the meaning of "equally qualified candidates."	Adding context to the assignment helps students understand what the question is asking.

PD11

Term implemented	Unit/assessment affected	Summary of changes	Why are we making the changes?
Fall 2018	Second and final drafts	We added new text to the second draft and final draft report rubrics.	Students gave us feedback about our marking consistency. Clearly indicating our expectations for students in these iterative assignments will resolve this feedback.
Spring 2018	Unit 2 weekly writing assignment	We added context to the instructions re: consulting the Waterloo Writing Works (WWW) module on citation and effective paraphrasing.	Students have struggled with proper citation in this assignment and future assignments. Making the need to visit the WWW citation module more explicit will help students be successful on this assignment and in their reports.
Spring 2018	Peer review	We adjusted the weighting of the section where students ask the writer three good questions. The section is now worth six marks instead of three.	This section's new weighting more accurately reflects its value as part of the peer review process. It also reflects the amount of time students spend coming up with questions to ask.

PD12

Term implemented	Unit/assessment affected	Summary of changes	Why are we making the changes?
Fall 2018	Massive metacognition game (MMG)	We improved the MMG with a number of small changes to the playing time and scoring system. We also edited some wording for clarity.	Students have provided plenty of feedback on the MMG through an optional survey. This series of changes to the MMG will make the game more engaging for students and reflect its purpose within PD12.
Winter 2018	Unit 4	We added a document showcasing an exemplary email accepting a workplace task to the content.	Adding the new document to this unit gives students an opportunity to "level up" and understand how to apply their learning to the workplace. It also helps them perform better on the Unit 4 assessment, which asks students to write an email of their own.

PD20

Term implemented	Unit/assessment affected	Summary of changes	Why are we making the changes?
Fall 2018	Unit 9 quiz	We revised the instructions, some questions, and some descriptions.	We made minor changes to help students understand expectations and answer quiz questions more successfully.
Fall 2018	Bonus quiz	We revised some question wording.	Students weren't fully answering the question being posed, and changing the wording will help them be more successful.
Spring 2018	Unit 9 quiz	We turned some short answer-style questions into multiple-select questions.	Unit 9 focuses on the differences between public and personal morality. The new multiple-select questions still give students an opportunity to interpret complex situations and make ethical judgments, but they take less time to complete and mark. This frees up students' time for other topics and resources for deployment elsewhere in PD20.

PD21

Term implemented	Unit/assessment affected	Summary of changes	Why are we making the changes?
Fall 2018	Unit 6 assessment	We added a third case study to the assessment.	The existing case studies suited students in traditional Engineering programs like Mechanical and Electrical Engineering. Adding a new case study about designing an app for investment management better serves students in disciplines like Software and Management Engineering.
Fall 2018	Unit 9 assessment	We revised the wording of the third question.	Students were confused about how much of a quotation they were supposed to write.
Spring 2018	Unit 7 assessment	We adjusted the weighting of various sections of the assessment. Students now receive fewer points (0.5 instead of 1.5) for filling in the first row of a decision matrix and more points (2 instead of 1) for ranking design options and justifying their decisions.	Students weren't given design options when the redeveloped version of PD21 launched in 2016. As the course has evolved, it's become clear that students should be able to rank design options compared to a datum and explain their thought process. Changing some weighting in the assessment encourages this behaviour.
Spring 2018	Unit 8 assessment	We adjusted the weighting of various sections of the assessments. Students now receive fewer points (1 instead of 2) for filling in the first row of a work breakdown structure and more points (4 instead of 3) for adding the subtasks underpinning major tasks.	Students weren't given major tasks when the redeveloped version of PD21 launched in 2016. As the course has evolved, it's become clear that students should be able to identify and assign subtasks to team members based on each member's skill set. We changed some weighting in the assessment to encourage students to think about these skills and write appropriate comments.

PD22

Term implemented	Unit/assessment affected	Summary of changes	Why are we making the changes?
Fall 2018	All units	We updated the appearance of units in the Table of Contents.	It wasn't obvious where to access Unit 1 content because students had to follow a different navigation sequence than with other units. Changing the navigation will make it easier for students to move through the course.
Fall 2018	Unit 1	We updated a paragraph giving students different instructions regarding their capstone essays.	It's difficult for students to write their capstone essays about whistleblowing issues because the cases in the course are relatively black-and-white situations. Students are now advised to write their essays about other kinds of issues.
Spring 2018	Unit 2 assessment	We removed one question from the assessment and significantly modified 12 other questions. Changes include the addition of relevant hints, rewording confusing questions, removing underperforming options from pooled questions, and removing questions that didn't strongly relate to the three lessons within Unit 2. As an example, questions were considered "underperforming" if students earned an average grade of 50% compared to a 75% average for other questions in the same pool. We also added instructions referencing specific sections of the Professional Engineers Act where relevant.	Students who take PD22 haven't studied professionalism and ethics in an engineering context before, and they may be encountering much of the vocabulary within PD22 for the first time. It's easy for students to form incomplete notions or get tripped up on definitions while studying a lesson. Adjusting the questions in this assessment based on performance ensures students aren't being treated unfairly at an early point in the course.

Term implemented

Unit/assessment affected

Summary of changes

Why are we making the changes?

Fall 2018

All units

We updated the appearance of units in the Table of Contents.

It wasn't obvious where to access Unit 1 content because students had to follow a different navigation sequence than with other units. Changing the navigation will make it easier for students to move through the course.

Fall 2018

Unit 1

We updated a paragraph giving students different instructions regarding their capstone essays.

It's difficult for students to write their capstone essays about whistleblowing issues because the cases in the course are relatively black-and-white situations. Students are now advised to write their essays about other kinds of issues.

Spring 2018

Unit 2 assessment

We removed one question from the assessment and significantly modified 12 other questions. Changes include the addition of relevant hints, rewording confusing questions, removing underperforming options from pooled questions, and removing questions that didn't strongly relate to the three lessons within Unit 2. As an example, questions were considered "underperforming" if students earned an average grade of 50% compared to a 75% average for other questions in the same pool.

We also added instructions referencing specific sections of the Professional Engineers Act where relevant.

Students who take PD22 haven't studied professionalism and ethics in an engineering context before, and they may be encountering much of the vocabulary within PD22 for the first time. It's easy for students to form incomplete notions or get tripped up on definitions while studying a lesson. Adjusting the questions in this assessment based on performance ensures students aren't being treated unfairly at an early point in the course.

We hope you'll give us feedback on your experience in our courses through their end-of-course surveys or other communication. If you want to learn more about our approach to course development, send us an email.