![[University of Waterloo]](/goldbar.gif)
| Yesterday |
Wednesday, October 2, 2002
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Editor: Chris Redmond credmond@uwaterloo.ca |
![[Bicycling past]](/images/2002/1002ceit.gif)
Brick by brick:
The new Centre for Environmental and Information
Technologies, at the heart of the campus, is starting to look like a
real building. Barb Elve of information and public affairs caught
this view yesterday.
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As part of the national plan, Canarie Inc. -- which calls itself "Canada's advanced Internet development organization" -- is providing $4.25 million for the "eduSource Canada" project, which seeks to create a test-bed of "linked and interoperable learning resources" across Canada.
That means the project will develop what are called learning object repositories -- on-line collections of educational media (text, data, audio, video, animations) that can be used to design, develop and enhance courses for any educational level.
"This is the first time the government is recognizing to this extent the value of learning object repositories," said Peter Goldsworthy, research project manager and communications officer. UW is already involved in other such collaborations, including California-based Merlot and Ontario's CLOE, the Co-operative Learnware Object Exchange.
UW's part of the eduSource Canada project amounts to $1.5 million. Other partners in the project, led by the Netera Alliance, are Athabasca University, Technologies Cogigraph Inc. (Téléuniversité), New Brunswick Distance Education Network, NewMIC Foundation and a number of industrial partners.
The project's approach to learning will allow both educators and learners enormous flexibility in how they obtain learning resources, Goldsworthy says. "Much like a library at one's fingertips, it will provide easy access to the vast e-learning content that is being developed."
UW's involvement through LT3 focuses on community building among faculty and teachers to share the design, development, evaluation and re-use of "learning objects" -- modular software packages that address specific instructional needs.
A major partner in the UW work is the Tula Foundation. The Tula contribution of $400,000 over two years will support discipline-specific faculty communities, including advancing Canadian participation in Merlot, which is co-chaired by Tom Carey, UW associate vice-president (learning resources and innovation).
The initial faculty community will be in health sciences fields, with others to follow over the project lifetime through to March 2004.
In addition, UW will be working with Brock University and Université Laval to engage pre-service mathematics teachers in the development of learning objects, a project component supported by partner Waterloo Maple.
![[United Way]](http://www.unitedway.uwaterloo.ca/hand.gif)
"My family and I feel especially fortunate to live in this special community," the president writes, in a letter published as part of a United Way ad in today's Gazette. He says generosity is "embodied everywhere in this community . . . a spirit that comes from a tradition of caring for and supporting one another".
Many of those who need care and support find it from the more than 80 programs that are funded through the United Way: activities of the Canadian Mental Health Association, the Food Bank, the John Howard Society, the Multiple Sclerosis Society, and on and on. "By supporting the United Way," says today's ad, "you ensure that other members of the community can benefit from these programs in their time of need." And Johnston points out that "our neighbours, our friends, or members of our families" can all be among those who are assisted by United Way agencies at some time in their lives.
The on-campus United Way campaign, with a goal of $150,000 in givings from staff, faculty and retirees, runs for the month of October. It's part of the wider United Way of Kitchener-Waterloo and Area, which this year is seeking to raise more than $5 million across the city.
Donors to the on-campus campaign can be winners too: there will be a donor draw October 15 for "your choice of a day off with pay or a $100 gift certificate to the University Club".
This Friday, October 4, will be a special day: "Show your support for United Way by dressing up or dressing down. All it costs is a little imagination. Stickers are available from your departmental United Way representative or the UW United Way office."
Twelve questions like that are at the heart of a survey that's been sent to all staff members by the UW staff association, under the title "How's the Climate?" Results will be presented and discussed at a "town hall meeting" at noontime on Tuesday, October 29.
The survey appears in the September issue of the association's newsletter, Staff News, which was sent to all eligible staff members -- more than 1,600 of them, of which some 60 per cent are association members.
The survey "was created solely by the Staff Association Executive Committee", the newsletter says, "to gauge the temperature of staff satisfaction and to help us gain a better understanding of what you would like us to do for staff. It is a chance for you to tell us what issues are important to you and for the SAEC to present them on your behalf."
The questions touch on such issues as performance reviews, the Hay system of job classification, job descriptions, and benefits -- and do you agree or disagree that "I feel adequately compensated for the work I do"?
There's also a write-in spot for other topics.
Survey submissions received by October 11 will be included in the results, the newsletter says. People can fill in the form either on paper or electronically.
"It puts the lie to the idea that education, training, research and knowledge are provincial jurisdictions," UW president David Johnston added last night. Here's some of what the Throne Speech said, setting out the Liberal government's plans for the year:
The government has invested heavily in providing Canada's schools and libraries with the information technology to connect young Canadians with the best information and knowledge the world has to offer. It has invested in access to universities and in excellence in university research because Canada's youth need and deserve the best education possible, and Canada needs universities that produce the best knowledge and the best graduates.The speech was "unwavering" in its support of knowledge as the fuel of the new economy, with the government recognizing that Canada "needs universities that produce the best knowledge and the best graduates", an AUCC news release says. It adds that the federal government "has set an ambitious agenda" with new initiatives in areas such as the nation's children, the aboriginal community, our cities and the environment. "But such undertakings would not be possible without broad economic, cultural and social development rooted in Canada's universities," notes Robert J. Giroux, president of AUCC.The government will build on these investments. It will continue to increase its funding to the federal granting councils to provide young Canadians greater support for graduate studies and research. It will work with universities on the indirect costs of research and on strategies for its commercialization to create opportunities for entrepreneurs and to fuel innovation. It will continue to work with small- and medium-sized enterprises in the development and application of new technologies in traditional and emerging sectors.
It will strengthen government science, integrating its efforts across departments and disciplines, and focusing on the priorities of Canadians.
In November, the Government of Canada will host the National Summit on Innovation and Learning. This will be an opportunity to position Canada as a world leader in such areas as health sciences, biotechnology and clean energy.
The economy of the 21st century will need workers who are lifelong learners, who can respond and adapt to change. Canada's labour market programs must be transformed to meet this challenge. To this end, the government will work with Canadians, provinces, sector councils, labour organizations and learning institutions to create the skills and learning architecture that Canada needs, and to promote workplace learning. This will include building our knowledge and reporting to Canadians about what is working and what is not. . . .
The government will adapt its intellectual property framework to enable Canada to be a world leader on emerging issues such as new life forms. . . . It will work with provinces to implement a national system for the governance of research involving humans, including national research ethics and standards.
AUCC says that for several years now, the federal government has been making major investments in support of university research and improved access to higher education. "We're delighted that the government is staying the course and recognizes that investments in universities need to be one of its highest priorities," says Giroux. "We are particularly pleased to see the government's ongoing commitment to work with universities to develop a permanent program to fund the indirect costs of university research."
AUCC is the organization representing presidents of 93 universities and degree-granting colleges across Canada.
In addition, two employment "fairs" are scheduled today on campus:
"Country presentations" sponsored by the International Students Association are resuming this fall, with the first one tonight. The focus country is Iran; computer science student Amir Chinaei will speak at 6:30 in Davis Centre room 1302, and "some Iranian snacks" are promised as well.
As I was saying at length yesterday, geography professor Ellsworth LeDrew will give the annual Environmental Studies Lecture tonight, at 7:30 in the Theatre of the Arts. He'll be giving the cold facts on "The Role of the Cryosphere in the Everyday Lives of Canadians".
The weekly gay and lesbian discussion group meets tonight, at 7:30 in Humanities room 373. Topic of the week: "Growing Up Different".
The Dimensions group, one of the various associations of Chinese students at UW, will hold a "Songs of Your Choice" dance tonight at Federation Hall. "A computer station will be set up," says organizer Kamen Sun, "for people to vote for their favourite English, Korean, Japanese, Cantonese or Mandarin songs. The songs with the most votes will then be played." Tickets are on sale in the Student Life Centre.
And there are a couple of Warrior sports events today. The swimming teams host the University of Guelph at 5:30 p.m. in the Physical Activities Complex pool; the women's rugby team plays a game at Laurier at 6 p.m.
Representatives from several faculties of education, within Ontario and beyond, will be at UW tomorrow to talk to future teachers. (Other faculties will be here for a second round of sessions next Tuesday.) On the schedule tomorrow -- in the multipurpose room of the Student Life Centre -- are Brock (10:30), the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (11:30), Queen's (1:30), Lakehead (2:30), and Western (3:30). And all day, a number of international education schools will have displays in the great hall of the SLC. The visits are organized by the co-op education and career services department, which promises that videotapes of the sessions will be available in the career resource centre later this month.
Also tomorrow is a colloquium aimed at graduate students: "An Introduction to the South Western Ontario Regional Data Centre, based at UW. The key question: "Can it help me produce a good thesis?" For many grads in the social sciences, the answer seems to be yes; people associated with SWORDC will tell more, tomorrow at 3:30 in PAS building room 2030. An open house will follow.
CAR
TODAY IN UW HISTORYOctober 2, 1961: UW agrees to buy 18 acres of land between Seagram Drive and Dearborn Street (now University Avenue) from Bauers Ltd. October 2, 1984: The board of governors approves plans for construction of a "computer research centre" along with a name for it: the Davis Centre. |