Week of April 13, 2022

Faculty Updates

UG Computing Labs Announcement
For instructors that teach classes using the UG computing labs, please be aware of the following:
1. Software request forms will be sent out next week for the new school year (September 2022 – April 2023).

2. UG lab systems will be wiped and refreshed on May 2, and all student data will be purged.
a. Students will be emailed if they left their data on any of the UG systems. If they wish to keep them, they need to go in before April 30 and copy their data off.
b. After May 2, there is no way to recover any data.

3. Teaching sub-folders UG_Store and Shared will be purged on May 2. Any marking materials should be copied out of these sub-folders.

4. Anyone teaching summer courses that require access to the UG labs, email forestry.ithelp@ubc.ca with the following information before April 30:
a. Course code and expected start date;
b. In-person, remote or hybrid mode;
c. What applications are required;
d. Expected number of students.

UG computing lab FSC 1406 will undergo renovations this summer and will be unavailable for the latter part of the summer. The FSC 1404 and FSC 2942 UG computing labs will remain open and available.

Introduction of Haitao Li, Geospatial Systems Analyst, Department of Forest Resources Management
Haitao Li is a geospatial systems analyst in our faculty who takes pride in providing excellent geospatial data management and analyses. His goals are to work with us to find the best solutions for using geospatial data, such as field data, maps, imagery, point clouds, and software, including ESRI ArcGIS, QGIS, and ENVI, for researching, teaching, and studying. Meanwhile, he continuously creates videos on Canvas to provide tips and tricks about GIS data and software. Please reach out to him via email at ht.li@ubc.ca, call him at (604) 822-2284, or drop by his office at 2221-2424 Main Mall if you have any questions related to the applications of geospatial systems.

Document Cameras in FSC
The document cameras have been installed in FSC 1001, 1002, 1003, 1005, 1221, 1222, 1402, 1611, 1615, and 1617. The control panels have also been updated with “Doc Camera” buttons. For requesting support in using document cameras, feel free to contact michelle.zeng@ubc.ca or forestry.tls@ubc.ca.

Events, Meetings & Workshops

TLS Drop-in Sessions
Time: Fridays 13:00 – 14:00*
Open discussion. Join the Zoom meeting

*Note: There will not be a drop-in session on 15 April due to Good Friday. Drop-in-sessions resume on 22 April.

Alternative Assessment Strategies to Help Students Stop Worrying about Grades and Focus on Learning Instead
Date & Time: May 5 (Thursday) 12:00 – 13:30
Location: CWAP 2916 or Zoom
Getting students to focus on learning instead of grades seems like a daunting and insurmountable task. But who can blame them? Our systems, structures, and policies are all centred around grades and the fallacies of their inherent “fairness”. In this interactive session, we will share our experiences of how we refocused students’ attention on rich, high-quality feedback instead of grades. Examples from a biology laboratory course, a science writing seminar course, and data science lecture-based courses will be presented. We will also discuss the challenges and opportunities of the various approaches and facilitate a discussion on how we can start working on broader structural changes to recentre higher education on learning, rather than grades.

Click here for more information and here to register for the workshop.

How to Put Together a Winning Teaching and Learning Enhancement Fund (TLEF) Application
Date & Time: May 19 (Thursday) 11:00 – 12:30
Jeff Miller, TLEF Program Director & Senior Associate Director, CTLT, and three Forestry speakers, Dr. Shannon Hagerman, Dr. Peter Marshall, and Dr. Simon Ellis, who have profound knowledge and experience in the Teaching and Learning Enhancement Fund (TLEF) will share their insights in this workshop to help our Forestry instructors better understand the scope and criteria of TLEF grants as well as identify synergies across the faculty to enhance our chances for success.

Workshop structure:

• What is the TLEF program
• Successful examples from Forestry
• Tips for preparing a winning proposal (panel discussion)
• Open discussion and brainstorming for ideas and synergies within Forestry

 Register for the workshop here.

Funding

LinkedIn Learning for UBC Faculty & Staff 
LinkedIn Learning is an online learning platform with on-demand video courses and tutorials. The platform offers courses across a variety of skills for business, creative industries, education, information technology, software, and web development, all led by industry experts. UBC’s subscription agreement with LinkedIn provides CWL enabled access to eligible faculty and staff. For more information about the agreement and for access, visit LinkedIn Learning @ UBC.