A message from Alumni Affairs

Calling all photographers: Do you have some great shots of campus? Old photographs of Waterloo collecting dust or buried on your hard drive? Well now’s your chance to let them shine! Alumni Affairs is looking for 12 outstanding pictures taken on campus to act as a banner on the monthly e-newsletter @uwaterloo. If you think you’ve captured the campus, submit your photo for a chance to win a 32GB BlackBerry PlayBook and convertible case. Read the rules and enter now! Contest closes June 21, 2012.

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Upcoming workshops for faculty and staff

With material from the Centre for Teaching Excellence and the Centre for Career Action

The Centre for Teaching Excellence is offering a number of workshops for university instructors. Registration is now open through myHRinfo. The workshops include:

CTE681 LITE Grant Info & Work Session
Date: Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Time: 9:30 am to 12:00 noon
Location: FLEX Lab, LIB 329

CTE684 Teamwork in Really Large Classes
Date: Thursday, May 24, 2012
Time: 3:00 to 4:30 pm
Location: HH 3127

CTE682 OND: Where do we go from here?
Date: Friday, June 15, 2012
Time: 10:00 to 11:00 am
Location: FLEX Lab, LIB 329

CTE680 Using LEARN’s ePortfolio
Long Title: Hands-on Introduction to Using LEARN’s ePortfolio
Date: Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Time: 12:00 to 1:30 pm
Location: FLEX Lab, LIB 329

CTE683 Intro to LEARN’s Learning Object Repository
Date: Thursday, July 12, 2012
Time: 1:00 to 2:30 pm
Location: FLEX Lab, LIB 329

CTE601 Instructional Skills Workshop
Date: Tuesday, August 14, Wednesday, August 15, Thursday, August 16 and Friday, August 17, 2012
Time: 9:30 am to 3:30 pm each day (24 hours)
Location: FLEX Lab, LIB 329
Limit: 10 uWaterloo instructors

In addition, drop-in sessions for LEARN, Desire2Learn's Learning Management System, are being held on today from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., and next Tuesday, May 15, from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. in EV1 242. These sessions are not listed in the myHRinfo registration system.

The Teaching Excellence Council (TEC) is also inviting instructors attend the following sessions focused on Integrating Experiential Learning which we define as “intentional and reflective learning from experience with different degrees of integration into courses and programs."

CTE679 Documenting Learning (with ePortfolios)
Date: Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Time: 12:00 to 1:30 pm
Location: FLEX Lab, LIB 329
Presenter: Tracy Penny Light (St. Jerome’s University) and Erika Di Maulo (a student in the Sexuality, Marriage and Family Studies program)

"Much of Tracy's research focuses on ePortfolio implementation and the ability for reflection in ePortfolios to transform the student experience. During this session, we'll learn more about ways ePortfolios can be implemented into the classroom and how activities which incorporate reflection have transformed the student experience. A student will describe the ways that ePortfolios have benefitted learning, particularly in terms of opportunities to make connections between classroom learning and learning that happened beyond the classroom. Opportunities and challenges of this approach to documenting learning will be considered from the student perspective. We hope you will leave the session with some concrete ideas on how you might implement ePortfolios and reflective activities into your course or program."

An information and working session about the newly-announced LITE grants will be offered on Tuesday, May 15, from 9:30 a.m. to noon. Register through myHRinfo (CTE681).

Faculty aren't the only ones with opportunities for skills upgrades this term.The Centre for Career Action is offering a number of staff-only webinars and workshops, including:

Writing an A+ résumé
Your résumé can make or break your job search. This webinar will deliver step-by-step instructions on developing an outstanding résumé.

Date and Time: May 9, 2012 from 12:00 pm–1:00 pm
Location: webinar

Job Search: Uncovering opportunities
Job searches can be frustrating and overwhelming. In this webinar, learn how to create a clear-cut plan to search out and apply for positions of interest.

Date and Time: May 18, 2012 from 12:00 pm–1:00 pm
Location: webinar

Perfecting your interview skills
Learn how to improve your performance in the job interview by overcoming your fears, out-preparing your competition, and delivering great responses to the toughest questions.

Date and Time: May 28, 2012 from 12:00 pm–1:00 pm
Location: webinar

See www.careeraction.uwaterloo.ca/staff for webinar log-on details one week prior to the scheduled webinar.

In addition to the webinars, the following workshop is available for staff:

Discovering your skills
Take the SkillScan assessment to quickly get to the heart of what you like to do and are good at doing. The results will help you to focus on career options that match your unique profile, and enable you to sell yourself on your résumé and in interviews.

Date and Time: May 25, 2012 from 12:00 pm–1:30 pm
Location: TC 2218

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Wednesday's notes

The Spring Town Hall meeting gets underway in the Humanities Theatre today at 3:00 p.m. The event will feature remarks from Feridun Hamdullahpur and Vice-President, Academic and Provost Sallie Ann Keller, and a question & answer period. The town hall will be webcast and is available for live viewing in the Student Life Centre's Great Hall. Anyone can email questions to townhall @uwaterloo.ca. For those who wish to follow along on twitter, use the #uwth hashtag to keep up with the conversation, and get live updates by following @uWaterlooLIVE.

A note from Plant Operations' Don Haffner: "On Thursday, May 10, Devlan Construction will be pouring the concrete floor for the new building, Access for the cement trucks will be from Westmount Road using the roadway between the Church Colleges and UW Residences. Be aware of extra traffic, sidewalks are compromised. Flagmen will be provided."

There's still time to sign up for the 2012 Campus Walk. Now in its third year, the Campus Walk will run (get it?) from May 14 to June 8. Individuals or teams can track their steps and map their routes using tools like mapmyrun.com. Last year, more than 400 campus employees walked over 96,000 kilometres. Register online with your WatIAM credentials.

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