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Dr. Peter Lawrence will be giving a talk in our Innovative Teaching Series this week. The talk will be of particular interest to faculty, postdocs and grads in Computer Science & Engineering but everyone is welcome to attend:

Design-based learning is a new approach to engineering education that draws upon lessons learned in project-based learning . Emphasis is on motivating an integrated understanding of mathematics, science and engineering knowledge and skills through useful, interesting, and somewhat open-ended, design projects. The move is away from passive lectures towards group learning and design project work.

Specific goals include:

(1) Making learning more enjoyable; (2) Improving knowledge integration between topics; (3) Facilitating group learning and project participation; and (4) Encouraging independent learning and research skills

Speaker: Professor Peter Lawrence, NSERC Chair in Design Engineering UBC, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

This talk will give insights into the benefits (and challenges) of establishing a design-based learning framework for the second year of the undergraduate engineering program at UBC.

For more information about the speaker, please see: http://www.ece.ubc.ca/~peterl/

When:

Thursday, March 9, 2006 - 15:00 to 16:00

Where:

Hugh Dempster Pavilion, Room 310

Tags:

Career

Terry (www.terry.ubc.ca) is a joint TLEF initiative of the Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of Science, with support from the Michael Smith Laboratories, VP Students, UBC Campus Sustainability Office, UBC Okanagan, UBC Bookstore, UBC Let’s Talk Science Partnership Program, and the Chan Centre for Performing Arts.

The UBC Bookstore and Terry are pleased to announce a writing challenge, and a grand one at that. There will be three sets of prizes available, which involve the hunt for pieces in the following categories.

For more information, please read on…

1. The first category seeks creative pieces that perhaps work best to subtlety elicit awareness of the myriad of global issues presented in this website. These pieces could take the form (but are not limited to) poetry, fiction, literary humour, visual, audio, and/or personal essay. Limited to those from the UBC community (students, staff and/or faculty).
2. The second category seeks out non-fiction pieces that can take the form of academic essay, review/textbook article, commentary, and/or critical analysis. More importantly, these pieces should discuss some aspect of the general themes that our speakers represent, in an attempt to help formulate (whether by describing methodology or simply by education) proactive responses. Limited to those from the UBC community (students, staff and/or faculty).
3. The third category is open to all. The first two categories are limited to those from the UBC community (students, staff and/or faculty). This simply entails submissions culled from the general public that would fit in either category, perhaps even both.

Pieces should be no longer than 2000 words , and can happily be something you have to write anyway for your courses. The deadline for submissions is March 31st, 2006. Previously published material (where permission is obtained) is just fine although may be considered less competitive than original works. Please inquire with specifics regarding audio or visual pieces. Note that the author retains full copyright of any work published on our site, although we would love to be credited with showing it off. Please submit your entry to [email protected] , subject heading “Terry.”

Note that the real beauty of this, is that these pieces can be the sorts of things that you may have written for your courses, blogs, letters anyway.

Now, the prizes…
In all categories, we are please to have a first, second, and third prize available (nine prizes in total), in the sums of $500, $250, and $125. Prizes will be available as UBC Bookstore giftcards which are valid in all retail locations and can also be used on the store’s website. Also, note that UBC winners may be asked to participate in a UBC Bookstore promotional event.

A maximum of three (3) $500 Student Excellence Awards will be awarded for the 2005-2006 academic year to students in recognition of contributions to the undergraduate Computer Science student body and/or Department. These awards are intended to encourage and reward students who take initiative within the UBC Computer Science community to the benefit of both the student and their peers.

NOTE: The selection committee reserves the right to refrain from distributing the maximum number of awards in the absence of reasonably eligible recipients. Preference will be given to graduating students where applicable.

Selection Criteria

Applicants for this award should:

• be an undergraduate student
• be enrolled in the Computer Science Major program, Computer Science Honors Program, a combined major/honors program with Computer Science, the BCS program or be in the Computer Science stream of the Cognitive Systems program
• have displayed substantial contributions to the undergraduate Computer Science student body through involvement with undergraduate activities or through the Department of Computer Science (paid work shall not qualify a student for this award)
• have not received this award before

Supporting Materials

All candidates must include the following in their nomination package:

• 1 completed nomination form
• 2 signed & sealed letters of support from a peer student and a faculty member

Submission Information

Please submit application package in person no later than Friday March 31, 2006 at 2PM to the Computer Science Department Office (room 201 ICICS/CS building).

File Attachments:

2006_student_excellence_award.pdf

Nominations for the 2006 Faculty of Science Student Service Awards are due March 6. All departments have been asked to let their corresponding student society know about these awards. If you, or any other undergraduate, would like to nominate someone for one of these awards, please let Paul Carter know no later than Wednesday, February 22. Your nomination should include a 1-page description that indicates how the nominee has gone beyond the call of duty in their contributions to the department or the university as a whole.

All women in computer science and women interested in computer science are invited to attend this year’s “Getting To Know You: Women in Computer Science”.

Come out and meet female graduate students and members of industry and female faculty. Hear about their experiences in the field and talk about what it’s like to be a woman in computer science.

• Refreshments: pizza and snacks, drinks
• Networking with fellow students, alumnae and panel speakers
• A panel with industry and academic speakers
• Small-group discussions on the opportunities available in CS, and our speakers’ experiences

For more information and to view speaker bios, visit http://www.cs.ubc.ca/local/affairs/committees/FoWCS/

Brought to you by the UBC CS FoWCS: Focus on Women in Computer Science Committee

When:

Wednesday, March 1, 2006 - 16:30 to 18:30

Where:

ICICS/CS 7th floor boardroom (X736)

Tags:

Social