To assist as many students as possible, Student Affairs will be conducting 30 minute appointments for the first two weeks of classes (Jan 10 -21) for both personal counselling and academic advising. Please note, in keeping with current Covid 19 public health measures, and while classes are conducted online, appointments will primarily be held online. To make an appointment, please email studentserv@upei.ca.

UPEI’s Learning Strategists invite you to join us for our Time Management Workshops. The beginning of a new semester is a chance to start fresh and to achieve your academic goals. During this workshop, we will guide you through time management strategies, organizational strategies, and will share tips on how to start the semester for a successful year ahead. 

Workshops will take place on: 

January 13 at 1:00 pm – ONLINE

January 14 at 1:00 pm – ONLINE

January 19 at 10:30 am – ONLINE

January 20 at 10:30 am – ONLINE

You will receive the meeting link after you have signed up. To sign up, please complete the following Google Form: https://forms.gle/GAYrTRhSKfChGXwA8

Looking forward to hearing from you!! 

Best Wishes, 

Jaclyn and Susan, Learning Strategists

If you are planning on visiting the UPEI Health and Wellness Centre and have been out of the province, you are required to have already self-isolated and had a negative test for COVID-19 on day 4 of your return to PEI (you will need to indicate whether you had a molecular (PCR) test or rapid antigen test). 

You will not be seen unless you have isolated and had a negative test result on day 4 following your trip. Thank you for your patience as we work hard to reduce the transmission of the Omicron variant/COVID-19 virus.

The UPEI Health and Wellness Centre is located on 2nd Floor North, W. A. Murphy Student Centre and is open from 8:30 am–4:00 pm, Monday to Friday (closed daily from 12:00–1:00 pm for lunch). Contact healthcentre@upei.ca or 902-566-0616 for more info.

The Teaching and Learning Centre is pleased to announce the launch of a new internal research grant focused on the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL). Faculty and Instructional staff such as lab instructors are eligible to apply for the Internal SoTL Research Grant (ISRG).

Grants of up to $2,500 will be awarded for SoTL research initiatives at UPEI. Researchers are encouraged to propose collaborations with colleagues from different, but complementary, disciplines which can also provide high-quality student training opportunities.

SoTL involves:

• asking meaningful questions about student learning, and about the teaching activities designed to facilitate student learning,
• answering those questions by making relevant student learning visible to gather evidence of thinking and learning, and then systematically analyzing this evidence, and
• sharing the results of that analysis publicly to invite peer review, and to contribute to broader bodies of knowledge on student learning, and
• aiming to improve student learning by strengthening the practice of teaching (one’s own and others’).

Guidelines and application forms for the ISRG are available on the Research Services Internal Funding page  

Please submit applications using the UPEI Romeo Researcher Portal. The deadline for proposals is January 21, 2022 by 4:00 pm.  Applicants will be notified in early February.

If you have any questions about the funding, process, or if you’d like to discuss your idea, please reach out to Charlene VanLeeuwen, Teaching and Learning Centre Coordinator at 902.620.5217 or cvanleeuwen@upei.ca

A Community of Practice on Enhancing the Mentorship Experiences of Graduate Students will begin in mid-January. If you are interested in participating, click here for more info and to RSVP.  Faculty in all career stages are welcome. 

Participants will learn how to organize their data to prioritize clarity, reproducibility, and interoperability, such that they can seamlessly load their data later into an analysis program. The spreadsheet programs covered will be Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets. The examples explored will be from the field of Social Sciences, but the principles are relevant for any discipline that collects data in spreadsheets. No previous experience with spreadsheets or programming is required.

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/acenet-introduction-to-spreadsheets-tickets-230400061787

Most of us have experience using a computer, whether for school, work, or entertainment, but how many of us have actually had an expert teach us how to use it? This talk won't teach you how to troubleshoot everything, but it will give you insight to how media, programs, and data are encoded and used by computers so you can make more sense of why computers behave the ways they do and solve some of your problems with greater efficiency and less frustration. We will provide an approachable overview of how computers work by looking at their history and breaking one down to explain individual components, before highlighting some of the trade-offs to consider when buying a computer. We will provide practical, simple, and actionable advice about digital security and show you a few "pro tips" about how to make the most of your workstation, phone, or whatever device you use. Whether you have a lot or a little experience using digital technology, this workshop is for you if you want to learn how to use your devices more effectively!

Registration: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/acenet-basics-of-computers-tickets-230396350687

Happy New Year, UPEI.

Many of you may have received a new phone for Christmas. If you just shoved the old one in a drawer, please consider recycling it. It is easy to take the SIM card out and restore it to factory settings. Information about where you can take it can be found at https://www.recyclemyelectronics.ca/pei 

If you have old laptops, iPads, modems, etc., they also can be recycled. Remember to be careful when disposing of equipment that may have personal information. If in doubt, ask a professional.

Be clutter free in 2022.

UPEI ChangeMakers is a new program operating from November 2021 through April 2022, aimed at developing, supporting, and celebrating UPEI students’ community work.

The deadline for Animal Care Protocol Submissions (new, renewal, or amendment) is Friday, February 4, for the February meeting.

Please note that as of June 1, 2020, all animal user protocols must be submitted through the UPEI Researcher Portal. For new protocols, select "applications," and for renewal or amendment protocols, select "events."

UPEI ACC SOPs and Codes of Practice can be accessed through myUPEI at https://portal.upei.ca/facultystaff/administrativeservices/AVCAnimalCare/Pages/default.aspx. 

Those protocols received after the deadline will be reviewed the following month. The committee requires at least one month for processing applications.

As we start a new semester and with it new courses, you may be thinking about ways to motivate your students to do pre-class work: you know, reading and homework. This article, published last week, shares several ideas that could work for you and your students this semester. Check out How to Motivate Students to Actually Do Homework and Reading for considerations on how intrinsic and extrinsic motivators can spur us on to success.  

UPEI’s Learning Strategists invite you to join us for our Time Management Workshops. The beginning of a new semester is a chance to start fresh and to achieve your academic goals. During this workshop, we will guide you through time management strategies, organizational strategies, and will share tips on how to start the semester for a successful year ahead. 

Workshops will take place on: 

January 13 at 1:00 pm – ONLINE

January 14 at 1:00 pm – ONLINE

January 19 at 10:30 am – ONLINE

January 20 at 10:30 am – ONLINE

You will receive the meeting link after you have signed up. To sign up, please complete the following Google Form: https://forms.gle/GAYrTRhSKfChGXwA8

Looking forward to hearing from you!! 

Best Wishes, 

Jaclyn and Susan, Learning Strategists

A reminder of the new internal research grants focused on the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL). Faculty and Instructional staff such as lab instructors are eligible to apply for the Internal SoTL Research Grant (ISRG).

Grants of up to $2,500 will be awarded for SoTL research initiatives at UPEI. Researchers are encouraged to propose collaborations with colleagues from different, but complementary, disciplines which can also provide high-quality student training opportunities.

SoTL involves:

• asking meaningful questions about student learning, and about the teaching activities designed to facilitate student learning,
• answering those questions by making relevant student learning visible to gather evidence of thinking and learning, and then systematically analyzing this evidence, and
• sharing the results of that analysis publicly to invite peer review, and to contribute to broader bodies of knowledge on student learning, and
• aiming to improve student learning by strengthening the practice of teaching (one’s own and others’).

Guidelines and application forms for the ISRG are available on the Research Services Internal Funding page  

Please submit applications using the UPEI Romeo Researcher Portal. The deadline for proposals is January 21, 2022 by 4:00 pm.  Applicants will be notified in early February.

If you have any questions about the funding, process, or if you’d like to discuss your idea, please reach out to Charlene VanLeeuwen, Teaching and Learning Centre Coordinator at 902.620.5217 or cvanleeuwen@upei.ca

In the first installment of the 2022 Island Lecture series, Ilse van Dijk will present the findings of the research she conducted as an intern with Island Studies and the School of Climate Change and Adaptation at UPEI. The research was funded by the Climate Sense project. In her research project, Ilse aimed to identify possibilities for the integration of artistic processes into climate change adaptation policies on Prince Edward Island.

Climate change and climate change adaptation are increasingly represented in the arts. Previous research has to some extent established that the resulting "climate art" can perform a variety of functions, in addition to its artistic value, such as articulating difficult emotions and translating complex information. However, policymaking for climate change and adaptation does not utilize the potential of climate art. In her research project, Ilse developed a concept for the integration of artistic processes into adaptation policymaking on Prince Edward Island. The research is based on qualitative data, gathered through in-depth interviews with artists, cultural experts, and climate change adaptation policymakers on Prince Edward Island.

If you wish to attend, please email instituteofislandstudiesupei@gmail.com to register.

The Teaching and Learning Centre is pleased to announce the launch of a new internal research grant focused on the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL). Faculty and Instructional staff such as lab instructors are eligible to apply for the Internal SoTL Research Grant (ISRG).

Grants of up to $2,500 will be awarded for SoTL research initiatives at UPEI. Researchers are encouraged to propose collaborations with colleagues from different, but complementary, disciplines which can also provide high-quality student training opportunities.

SoTL involves:

• asking meaningful questions about student learning, and about the teaching activities designed to facilitate student learning,
• answering those questions by making relevant student learning visible to gather evidence of thinking and learning, and then systematically analyzing this evidence, and
• sharing the results of that analysis publicly to invite peer review, and to contribute to broader bodies of knowledge on student learning, and
• aiming to improve student learning by strengthening the practice of teaching (one’s own and others’).

Guidelines and application forms for the ISRG are available on the Research Services Internal Funding page  

Please submit applications using the UPEI Romeo Researcher Portal. The deadline for proposals is January 21, 2022 by 4:00 pm.  Applicants will be notified in early February.

If you have any questions about the funding, process, or if you’d like to discuss your idea, please reach out to Charlene VanLeeuwen, Teaching and Learning Centre Coordinator at 902.620.5217 or cvanleeuwen@upei.ca

To assist as many students as possible, Accessibility Services will continue conducting appointments for the first two weeks of classes (Jan. 10–21) for case management, learning strategy, grant applications, and adaptive technology!

Please note, in keeping with current COVID-19 public health measures, and while classes are conducted online, appointments will primarily be held online.

To make an appointment, please email accessibility@upei.ca. 

Approved recipients of the 2021/22 George Coles Bursary have had funding applied to their student account for the 2022 Winter term. Eligibility criteria must be maintained throughout the term to retain funding.  

A second list of potential recipients has been prepared for PEI Student Financial Services’ review, which includes students who may now be eligible for the George Coles Bursary and were not part of the initial list. If you do not see funding applied by January 24th, then the recommendation is for eligible students to complete a George Coles Bursary Appeal Form. Complete appeal forms must be submitted by May 31st.  

Any questions relating to this message or the George Coles Bursary can be directed to scholarships@upei.ca.

To assist as many students as possible, Student Affairs will be conducting 30 minute appointments for the first two weeks of classes (Jan 10 -21) for both personal counselling and academic advising. Please note, in keeping with current Covid 19 public health measures, and while classes are conducted online, appointments will primarily be held online. To make an appointment, please email studentserv@upei.ca.

The UPEI Bookstore is open for shopping at this time, Monday to Friday 9:00am to 4:00pm

The store has a limit of 15 shoppers at a time, and asks all shoppers to please respect physical distancing regulations. 

You can also shop online at upei.ca/bookstore for any course materials and clothing items. In-store pick is up available. 

UPEI’s Learning Strategists invite you to join us for our Time Management Workshops. The beginning of a new semester is a chance to start fresh and to achieve your academic goals. During this workshop, we will guide you through time management strategies, organizational strategies, and will share tips on how to start the semester for a successful year ahead. 

Workshops will take place on: 

January 13 at 1:00 pm – ONLINE

January 14 at 1:00 pm – ONLINE

January 19 at 10:30 am – ONLINE

January 20 at 10:30 am – ONLINE

You will receive the meeting link after you have signed up. To sign up, please complete the following Google Form: https://forms.gle/GAYrTRhSKfChGXwA8

Looking forward to hearing from you!! 

Best Wishes, 

Jaclyn and Susan, Learning Strategists