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• Office 365��now available for all undergraduate students
• For distance ed prize winner, there's more freedom with online education
• ��ݮ��Ƶ Pharmacy hosts first ever Pharmacy Wellness Week
• Fall Game Jam is fast approaching

Office 365��now available for all undergraduate students

Information Systems & Technology (IST) is pleased to announce that beginning today, October 25, Office 365 is available to all undergraduate students. They now have the option to activate their Office 365 account. All upper year undergraduate students are receiving an email with detailed instructions. New students, arriving fall 2016, received Office 365 accounts in summer 2016.

Office 365 provides students a cloud based Outlook email account with a greater feature set and increased storage over their current mailservices account. An Office 365 account provides the following to current students of the University of ��ݮ��Ƶ:

• 5TB of OneDrive cloud-based storage;
• Access to Office 365 online suite of tools;
• Download and install Microsoft Office 365 on up to 5 personal computers/devices.

After activating their Office 365 account, students will have 30 days to migrate their mailservices email to their Office 365 account before their mailservices email is removed.

On November 3, from 11:00 a.m to 4:00 p.m., IST is hosting a pop-up booth in the ��ݮ��Ƶ Centre (SLC) and will be joined by Microsoft to answer Office 365 questions.

More information about Office 365 for students is available on the IST website.����

For distance ed prize winner, there's more freedom with online education

"Whatever I learn, I try to find a way to fit it into my own life experiences. In this way, I can more easily relate to and recall what I have learned,” said��Tanya Montebello, winner of the 2016 J.D. Leslie Prize, when asked about her secret to achieving such high marks.

In comparing her online experiences to a traditional classroom, Montebello said "I prefer studying online because it allows for more freedom to manage other aspects of my personal life... and cuts down on expenses.”

The J. D. Leslie Prize is awarded to the graduating student who has achieved a first-class standing and who has earned 50 percent��or more of the credits for his or her undergraduate degree through online and distance courses.��

The��$1,000 prize is named for the late Dr. James D. Leslie who began the University of ��ݮ��Ƶ's Correspondence Program in 1968 (now the Centre for Extended Learning). It is��awarded annually at the Fall convocation ceremony.��

��ݮ��Ƶ Pharmacy hosts first ever Pharmacy Wellness Week

Origami, therapy dogs, de-stressing workshops, and yoga outside: Wellness Week at the School of Pharmacy ran from Oct 17 to 20 and saw students and staff engaging in all sorts of fun and relaxing activities.

School of Pharmacy staff worked in close consultation with RxPRN, a peer-to-peer pharmacy student counselling group, and together staff and students designed the program for Wellness Week. The event was scheduled after Fall Break and during midterm season so that students would continue to have opportunities to de-stress when transitioning back to class.

Programming included activities like completing a puzzle, building with Play-doh, folding origami and colouring. These activities have been shown to promote relaxation and were available to students and staff throughout the week. The 1000 piece puzzle was completed by Thursday.

For three days of Wellness Week, additional events ran. Monday, social worker and counsellor with University of ��ݮ��Ƶ Counselling Services, Dave McKay, lead a progressive muscle relaxation workshop. Progressive muscle relaxation is an effective strategy for managing anxiety and can also reduce physical problems like stomach-aches and poor sleep.

On Tuesday, St John’s Ambulance brought three therapy dogs to the School’s lobby. The dogs, trained to provide companionship and comfort to the sick and lonely, were a big hit among pharmacy students.

The Wednesday event featured Joshua Webster, certified yoga instructor, leading participants through an introductory hatha flow yoga session. Hatha yoga has been linked to mindfulness practice and the focus on the session was both increasing flexibility and reducing stress.

Thursday, RxPRN offered Inspirational chocolate. They provided a chocolate and hand-wrote inspirational quotes for each student, faculty and staff at the School of Pharmacy.

Staff and students alike took every chance to relax and enjoy the Wellness Week activities. The student feedback has been so positive that the School plans to host similar de-stressing activities around final exam season.

Fall Game Jam is fast approaching

by Alex Fleck.

This term the Games Institute, UW Game Development Club, and IGDC are hosting our once-a-term Game Jam (October 28, 29, and 30). You can �����Ի� if you'd like to participate.��

The ��ݮ��Ƶ Game Jam is a thrice-annual, multi-day event hosted by The Games Institute (GI). Participants team up and create games. Each event is open to the public and is designed to appeal to a wide variety of playful people.

Whether you have an idea for a game design in the works, or if game design has never crossed your mind, there is room for everyone! All levels of expertise and preparation are welcome.

Every Game Jam��weekend��follows our "Learn, Make, Play" theme:

• LEARN: you can hear talks from GI and community experts about the tools and techniques involved in the design and creation of games.
• MAKE: you can build your own games from scratch along with helpful advice and guidance from our GI mentors. You can create your own game mechanic, gameful art, game characters and��narrative, or try your hand at coding for your very own game prototype.
• PLAY: you can explore new kinds of games, try out some of the brand new games that were made at the DIY event��itself, and give/receive feedback with local��game experts.

Remember that no expertise is required, and on the first night (October��28) we will try and match you up with like-minded creators (if you don't already have a group).

Come on out and join us to create and have a play-full event!