Electrical crew struggling with outage

Yes, there have been problems with road and pathway lighting on the northern part of the campus for the past couple of days, says Gerd Kursikowski, electrical supervisor for the plant operations department. He says the outages are presumed to have something to do with the digging that's been going on along the ring road to install new light poles, but it's difficult to locate shorts that are someplace underground, so repairs are going slowly. A crew was at work yesterday in the problem area, which runs from Village I to the ring road, the Matthews Hall green, the Math and Computer building and Biology. "What we're trying to do is get a temporary, makeshift bypass," he said, adding that a number of other projects have been put on hold to get the lights back on as quickly as possible.

Think Pink weekend is here, as the department of athletics and recreational services holds special events — for the third year in a row — in support of breast cancer research. In 2008 and 2009, Warrior teams raised a total of $12,882 for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, and this year’s goal is another $10,000, says Jenny Mackay, promotions coordinator in athletics. Think Pink will involve promotions at eight varsity games — basketball, hockey and volleyball — as well as a Campus Recreation soccer tournament and Spin-A-Thon. (I’m particularly intrigued by “faculty high-heeled hoops” at half-time of the men’s basketball game tonight.) T-shirts are for sale, and public donations are encouraged. A sponsor of the whole thing is Boston Pizza, which advertises that 10 per cent of Monday night’s sales at the Erb Street West location will be donated to the cause.

Every why hath a wherefore, saith — I mean says — Shakespeare in "The Comedy of Errors", but I know not wherefore Shaw Forgeron (as Antipholus of Ephesus) and Tom Duff (as Dr. Pinch) are decked out as we see them herein. They're among the cast for the drama department's production of "Comedy", running tonight and Saturday in the Theatre of the Arts, with three more performances next week. "Believed to be one of Shakespeare's earliest plays," says director Lee Wilson, "The Comedy of Errors relies heavily on character mix-ups and witty dialogue — the ingredients of what is now called situation comedy. The story is based on two sets of twins who are unaware of each other’s existence. When the twins converge in Ephesus (present-day western Turkey) their journey towards (self-)discovery produces a host of farcical mix-ups and many unexpected plot twists."

Several staff members officially retired as of November 1, says the human resources department: Nemika Kemal, a residence attendant in UW Place who's been working for the university since 1993; Brian Cameron, manager of technical support in information systems and technology, who joined the staff in 1974; John Pezzack, senior lab demonstrator in kinesiology, who's been working for Waterloo since 1977; George Nikolica, custodian in plant operations, who joined the organization in 1995.

Back to top

Grants support research about teaching

Research about how to teach pharmacy students about talking to patients, how to tackle students’ misconceptions about spatial relations, and how well “study circles” work will all be getting support this year from two University of Waterloo funds.

The Learning Initiative Fund and Program Initiative Fund offer researchers $5,000 to $15,000 over a two-year period to fund “research projects that enhance student learning and support the strategic plans of the academic unit and/or the University of Waterloo”. Recipients of the 2010 grants have been announced by the Centre for Teaching Excellence, which manages the program.

“The funds,” says Nicola Simmons of CTE, “provide resources for faculty and staff to pursue research projects about program development or renewal that are designed to support and enhance teaching practices and enrich student learning outcomes in undergraduate and graduate courses.”

One of this year’s grants goes to Jean Andrey of the geography and environmental management department (pictured above), Rohan Jayasundera of physics and astronomy, and Vivian Schoner of CTE, who are working on “Learning Styles and Sense of Entitlement: A Follow-up Study”. Says an abstract for their project: “The proposed research focuses on students’ learning styles, as well as the somewhat controversial issue, sense of entitlement.

“The research builds on past research, especially in the United Kingdom and more recently at University of Waterloo. The objectives of the proposed research are to develop a slightly refined questionnaire instrument that better illuminates the intersection of different learning styles, and collect data in order to develop both a more complete profile of the learning styles at University of Waterloo, as well as a better understanding of approaches to learning. A refined approach for measuring learning styles is warranted by the need to better understand ‘surface learning’ and its possible intersection with both ‘deep learning’ and ‘sense of entitlement’.

“A large data set, based on the refined instrument, would allow the research team to profile the learning styles of University of Waterloo students by Faculty, as well as probe some of the differences in learning approaches with more accuracy. There is both practical and theoretical value in the proposed research. The first pertains to student recruitment and success on campus; and the second relates to a richer understanding of student engagement.”

Another project involves Brad Jennings and Nancy Waite of the pharmacy school as well as Pia Marks of the Centre for Extended Learning. Title of their project is “Online Experiential Learning and Real-world Transfer: Intersections”.

Says an abstract: “This study will explore the intersections between online learning (especially experiential learning in an online context) and real-world transfer. It will examine the extent to which learning from online experiences, especially simulated experiences, transfers to real-world practice and contributes to practice change. It will do this in the context of an online and experiential learning program called ADAPT (Adapting pharmacists’ skills and Approaches to maximize Patient’s drug Therapy effectiveness).

“Data sources will include course activities, open-ended questionnaires and focus groups designed to explore aspects of the online program that affect learners’ knowledge and skills and the extent to which these knowledge and skills transfer to practice and result in practice change. We hope, as a result of this study, to identify the features of online learning experiences that facilitate real-world transfer of skills and improve student learning outcomes.”

Other projects for this year:

Lisa Craig and Peter Pagacz, school of pharmacy: “Determination of the Optimal Blended Model of Virtual and Standardized Patients for Developing Patient Information Gathering Skills Essential for Safe and Effective Pharmacy Practice.”

Luis Ricardez Sandoval, Mary Robinson, and Raymond L. Legge, chemical engineering: “Fostering Cross-Course Learning and Problem-Solving: Designing a MATLAB Tool For and By First-Year Chemical Engineering Students.”

Su-Yin Tan, geography and environmental management: “Addressing Misconceptions, Spatial Thinking, and Learning Outcomes in GIScience Education.”

Trish Van Katwyk, Maria Liegghio, and Ellen Sue Mesbur, school of social work, Renison University College: “Action in Learning: The Study Circle as a Critical Approach to University Education.”

Simmons notes that LIF and PIF applicants are automatically invited to join the Teaching-Based Research Group, which meets once each term “to discuss findings and research directions. In addition, this group organizes the Opportunities and New Directions conference, which offers teaching and learning researchers a peer-reviewed opportunity to present their work.”

She says past grant winners have shared their research “both within the UW community and beyond, giving presentations for department colleagues, cross campus seminars, presentations at the OND conference, and presentations at disciplinary and SoTL conferences. They also have a significant list of publications resulting from their LIF-PIF funded work.” An invitation for proposals for the 2011 grants will be issued in the spring.

Back to top

New titles for some top administrators

A few organizational changes at the university's top level were announced yesterday by provost Geoff McBoyle, who says they went into effect as of November 10:

• The associate provost (academic and student affairs) — that's geography professor Bruce Mitchell — will now be titled "associate provost (resources)". That official will be responsible for space management, as well as four existing functions: the library, co-operative education and career action, academic integrity, and the WatPD program.
• The registrar (Ken Lavigne) will now report to the vice-president academic and provost; he had previously reported to Mitchell's position.
• The associate vice-president (academic) will now be called "associate vice-president (academic programs)". That position also belongs to McBoyle, who is filling in temporarily as provost this fall. The portfolio involves academic planning, the Centre for Extended Learning and the Centre for Teaching Excellence.

The announcement also confirmed Bud Walker, who has been interim associate provost (student services), in the newly created job of "associate provost (students)", and indicated that the portfolio now officially includes "student success".

The changes are reflected on the "University Officers and Administrators" web page that I have the fun of maintaining — correctly, I hope, but if there are updates that should be made, please let me know.

CAR

Back to top