Week of January 19, 2022


Teaching & Learning News

Week of January 19, 2022

Faculty Support

Advice from the Associate Dean, Academic, Prof. Sarah Gergel:


(1) Vaccine status declarations
As part of UBC’s plan to keep everyone safe, the University is requiring all faculty, staff, and students to complete a declaration regarding their COVID-19 vaccination status. This policy may cause apprehension amongst students leading to questions and debate with students in non-compliance. Any faculty receiving such queries or complaints may use and adapt this Response to Student Inquiries on the Vaccine Status Declaration template

(2) Absenteeism
Due to the current situation, there is potential for high levels of absenteeism in your classes. Please refer to the Absenteeism tip-sheet compiled by PFFAC to consider how you can adapt your online (or eventual in-person) classes during this pandemic.

(3) GAA Funding
We are in preparation to offer new GAA funding to support your transitions among teaching modes. Each course is eligible for a GAA up to a total of 50 hours, with exception to faculty who has large courses, who are pre-tenure/new to UBC or is offering courses online for the first time – If this applies to you, we are happy to entertain requests up to 100 GAA hours. If online learning is extended again (beyond February 7), all 50-hour positions will be upgraded to 75 hours. If you would like to request GAA support, please fill out this form and send it to jill.yu@ubc.ca.

(4) Additional Support
If you need help with online teaching, learning technologies, and Canvas, please email Michelle at michelle.zeng@ubc.ca. If you need to link lab sections from SSC to Canvas, please also contact Michellle.

If you need help with access to the Undergradaute Computer Labs, please email forestry.ithelp@ubc.ca.

 

Events & Workshops

TLS Drop-in Sessions
Time: January 21 (Friday), 13:00 – 14:00
Open discussion. Join the Zoom meeting.

Time: January 28 (Friday), 13:00 – 14:00
Tips and tricks: Canvas Quizzes and Gradebook. Join the Zoom meeting.

This session will familiarize you with (or remind you about) the use of Canvas quizzes (e.g. quiz types, question banks, assigning extra time to students during online quizzes, etc.) and the gradebook (e.g. posting grades manually, changing grading schemes, etc.).


Recording from January 5: Advice and Expert Panel Discussion

  • Faculty guidance and GAA support: Dr. Sarah Gergel
  • Faculty and UBC’s existing resources: Michelle Zeng
  • Best online teaching advice (guest speakers): Dr. Neil Leverage and Dr. Andrés Varhola
  • View the recording
  • Summary notes

Helpful Previous Workshop Recordings
Still struggling with mastering Canvas? From using Kaltura videos to setting up discussions to Canvas Basics, explore the various previous Canvas workshop recordings in our PFFAC Canvas course.

Faculty Initiatives & Tip-sheets

Killam GTA Award
2021-22 Killam GTA Award is calling for nominations! The prize includes a certificate and $1,000. This award is open to any Faculty of Forestry Graduate Teaching Assistant who acts or has acted in this position during the current academic year (2021-22) and/or the preceding academic year (2020-21).


Nomination Deadline:
4 pm Friday, March 11, 2022

Please submit nominations to Stefen Ching: Forestry Grad Awards (forestry.grad-awards@ubc.ca)


Communicating with students before and during course availability periods on Canvas

The TLS team has completed a tip-sheet about different methods that instructors can communicate with students on Canvas prior to the start of and during the term

Using iPeer for group evaluations
iPeer is a tool for students to evaluate their peers’ contributions to group projects. View this tip-sheet for more information.


Using real-time closed captioning with Zoom
Want to make your Zoom meetings more accessible? Learn how to enable closed captioning within Zoom.

 



 

Central Updates

Student as Partners (SaP) Fund
The Student as Partners fund (SaP) positions students as collaborators in the redesign of UBCV undergraduate courses in collaboration with faculty with grants of up to $7,100 per project through the Student Support Initiative. Visit SaP’s website for more details.


All applications should be submitted to SaP’s application portal and are due by Tuesday, February 1, 2022, at 3:00 PM.

CTLT has provided an information session (Passcode: 3HuRthV^) specifically for the Faculty of Forestry. Please note that this fund cannot be held concurrently with a TLEF grant.

Any questions or further proposal consultations can be directed to sap.info@ubc.ca.

Additional Links

Have news to share or questions to ask?

Contact us at forestry.tls@ubc.ca