December 5, 2002

Thursday, December 5, 2002

Sergeant says: watch your wallet
Independent studies program is praised
And a few events and notes

Editor:
Chris Redmond
credmond@uwaterloo.ca

Christmas Lights Across Canada | . . . and beyond

[One silver, four bronze]
League titles won by UW teams this fall are listed on the sign outside the Physical Activities Complex: an Ontario gold and national third-place bronze for field hockey, a provincial second-place silver for the Warrior golfers, and Ontario bronzes for the women's teams in tennis, rugby and cross-country.

Sergeant says: watch your wallet

"We are experiencing a significant increase of wallets, knapsacks, etc., from both libraries," says Alan Binns, the sergeant in charge of investigations for the UW police.

"The libraries have been saturated with warning signs," he adds, "and since they will be a lot busier with the upcoming exams, we hope they take the free advice!"

The warning signs call for "extra vigilance" and make these suggestions:

"If you leave your study area always take your valuables with you."
"Write or mark your name and ID number on all your valuables."
"If you see something suspicious, report it."
"For more information on personal safety, please contact us."

The university police can be reached at ext. 4911, or 888-4911, 24 hours a day.

Independent studies program is praised

UW's "invisible" academic program -- independent studies -- "plays a small, but important, role in the educational goals of the University of Waterloo" and "serves a particular group of students especially well", says a report done this year as part of UW's academic program review process.

The report says IS has "high academic standards" and turns out "quality students who have gone on to perform well in a broad range of careers and graduate disciplines". Some of the 103 Bachelor of Independent Studies graduates over the last 11 years were working "at levels equivalent to master's or PhD programs" during their undergraduate study, it says.

The IS program advertises itself to students "interested in a field so new, specialized, or interdisciplinary that there's no existing program for it". Individually tailored programs are supposed to include both breadth and depth; after two to six terms of study, likely involving courses from various UW departments, a student starts work on a thesis.

"An Academic Board, consisting of individuals from the six Faculties, provides oversight for the IS program," the review report notes. "Every student prepares a work plan for each term, and these are approved by faculty advisors. The plan identifies learning goals, objectives for each unit of study to be undertaken, and the means for evaluating academic work." The review team says the Academic Advisory Board "functions effectively".

It also says: "A survey of IS students revealed that the students indicated the strengths of IS include curricular flexibility, overall uniqueness, and supportive faculty. . . . The weaknesses of IS included lack of guidance and personal attention for students in their initial terms, a too narrow collective background of the faculty currently active as advisors, lack of a GPA for graduating students, and lack of scholarships."

It points out a key risk for the program: "IS is critically dependent on the continued good will of UW faculty and other professionals in the external community to volunteer time and effort to work with individual IS students. . . . The dependence on faculty members volunteering their time presents, perhaps, the greatest threat to ensuring ongoing quality."

Faculty members who work with IS students usually get "little or no recognition for doing so", the report says, and "this reality discourages younger faculty members from participating in the IS Programme because they receive no credit toward tenure and promotion." It recommends that the university find "ways that credit for advising and supervising can be recognized", to reduce the program's reliance on retired professors.

It also says attention should be given to "improving the quality of applicants to IS, but, given scarce resources, not expanding enrolment", and "more systematically using current literature on independent, self-directed learning, by creating a unit on the literature which informs independent, self directed learning for the introductory course in IS".

A graduate program in IS should also be considered, it says.

The report's conclusion: "UW has a record of being an innovative educational institution and providing an environment of free inquiry and expression. IS is a worthy representative of that innovation and freedom. Key needs are to identify and incorporate 2 to 3 new faculty academic advisors, including arrangements to facilitate involvement of younger faculty, expand a pool of high quality applicants, and enhance a scholarship program."

[Cups and candy canes]
Head home with gifts for the folks, the UW Shop is suggesting. Today and tomorrow, there's a 20 per cent discount on "Mom and Dad gift ware" such as these mugs and T-shirts.
Also: today is Ring Day at the UW Shop, with a representative on hand from 11:00 to 3:00 to take orders. The shop is in the South Campus Hall concourse.

And a few events and notes

There's a "wrap-up luncheon" today in Needles Hall for people who were involved in running the recent United Way campaign on campus. "Volunteers like you are the heart of United Way campaigns," co-chairs Chandrika Anjaria and Winston Cherry say in a message to departmental representatives. At last count, the campaign had raised $158,150 for local agencies, well ahead of the $150,000 goal.

The music department presents its annual noon choral concert in the Davis Centre great hall today. The UW Choir, chamber choir and chapel choir will all be heard, and so will members of the audience, invited to sing along on some Christmas carols. The music starts at 12:15 and will last about 45 minutes.

With a one-day blood donor clinic scheduled for December 13, someone from Canadian Blood Services will be in the Student Life Centre today to book donor appointments. Information will be available from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (And after today, until the 13th, the appointment book will be at the turnkey desk in the SLC.) Says Sharron Cairns of CBS: "The holidays are a busy time, but please remember to take an hour to roll up your sleeves and give blood. And please bring a friend!"

Ontario Ballet Theatre is back on campus today with a 1 p.m. performance of "The Nutcracker" in the Humanities Theatre.

Tonight's Math Society movies are the three Austin Powers flicks: "International Man of Mystery", "The Spy Who Shagged Me", "Goldmember". You can't beat suspense, comedy and sex as a distraction from exam time, and admission is $2. The show starts at 7 p.m. in Davis Centre room 1302.

But you might miss the first movie if you have to write the English Language Proficiency Examination -- it starts at 7 p.m. in the Physical Activities Complex, for those who still need to meet their faculty's language requirement.

Looking ahead to next week already:

The human resources department will offer "Knowing Your Workplace" sessions on UW pensions (Tuesday) and the benefits plan (Thursday) -- 12 noon, Davis Centre room 1302.
The mature students' end-of-term lunch is scheduled for Thursday, December 12, at the Festival Room in South Campus Hall (reservations, phone ext. 2429).
Jake Willms's annual carol-sing in the Modern Languages lobby will also take place Thursday, December 12, at noon.

"We've passed a milestone," writs Erick Engelke from engineering computing, one of the people responsible for the Waterloo Nexus network. "Nexus has grown beyond 1,500 user stations. These include 66 in research labs; 35 in registrar classrooms; 1,174 in student labs and cafes; 263 in staff and faculty offices." Engineering has the largest number of Nexus nodes -- 713 -- but all faculties are represented, and "by January we will have added quite a few more," Engelke says.

Also from engineering computing: "We've just added an electronic polling system to 'mywaterloo'," writes Bruce Campbell, "to help us connect with our user community." The first poll asked, "Do you own a laptop?" and more than one-third of 717 respondents said yes. Current poll questions: "Do you plan to buy a laptop with wireless support, or add a wireless card to your existing laptop? . . . Where would you most like to see wireless networking coverage available (pick one)?"

CAR

TODAY IN UW HISTORY
December 5, 1994: Graphics Express opens for business in South Campus Hall.