I have my first ever Spring non-teaching term in May - August 2025, so I'm planning a world tour to talk about actuarial & statistical education! I'll be updating my tour dates here:Ìý/scholar/dkchisho/actueras-tour and hopefully making a blog post about what I presented as well as what I learned at each location/event. Hope you can join me at one of the talks and/or follow along online! P.S. Credit goes to my sister for coming up with the ActuEras Tour name :) Read more about Announcing: The ActuEras Tour!
My name is Nicola Ablett, and I am a fourth year Data Science student here at the University of À¶Ý®ÊÓƵ. I have had the pleasure of being the Educational Research Assistant for Diana this term. Throughout the last couple of months I have been working on the Enhancing Assessment Practices project investigating data from core math courses, reading results from student surveys, and learning more about general policies that are on course syllabi. The project is wrapping up this year, and by giving a...
Guest post by Ilham Akhundov, Associate Professor Teaching Stream (ilham.akhundov@uwaterloo.ca)
Recently, I attended the Math Teaching Colloquium at University of À¶Ý®ÊÓƵ. The speaker Dan Wolczuk delivered a compelling presentation on how cognitive load theory can revolutionize teaching and learning math. The talk highlighted how managing cognitive load effectively can lead to better student engagement and deeper learning. Inspired by this insightful presentation, I decided to dive deeper into the subject.
Hydrogen is frequently (and perennially) lauded as a versatile tool with the potential to decarbonize a wide range of industries and end-use activities. However, a more nuanced view is needed. While hydrogen has a critical role to play in the energy transition, its capabilities are often overstated. A strategic approach is necessary, focusing on areas where hydrogen is truly indispensable and avoiding its deployment where better alternatives exist.
Currently, over 96% of hydrogen production comes from fossil fuels, resulting in significant carbon emissions (Eloffy et al. 2022...
Research at University of À¶Ý®ÊÓƵ has quantified sources and flows of microplastics in Canada that are released to the environment. The 2023 masters thesis by Cassandra Sherlock examined tire wear, paint degradation, clothes washing and other sources of microplastic generation (particles smaller than 5 mm). The method of materials flow analysis was used to track flows from source to release and estimate loads into different environmental compartments. Tire wear accounts for the majority of the load. The total amount works out to about 1.5 kg of microplastic release per person per year...
I developed this simple framework while consulting in the late 1990s. IIT became a first step in the screening of a new opportunity or a new client relationship. Today I teach it to undergraduate students, to encourage them to understand the world and to find their professional pathway.
IIT framework is a useful shortcut to categorize and analysis problems and opportunities, and to frame discussions around business and sustainability. Each of three components gives a dimension for considering problems and solutions for companies:
The Flipped Classroom is an approach to teaching in a blended format where students learn material through asynchronous videos or readings, and then class time is spent on actively applying the material. There are lots of great tips for designing flipped courses but I wanted to create a quick rubric to decide if flipping is right for your course. The following is based on the APGAR score (for newborn babies) where each of 5 criteria is given a simple score of 0, 1, or 2, giving a final score out of 10. Try it for your own course!
My name is Marshall Cowie, and I am a third-year student studying Mathematical Physics here at the University of À¶Ý®ÊÓƵ. For the past four months I have had the opportunity to work as an Educational Research Assistant with Diana. ÌýI worked on the Enhancing Assessment Practices project, focusing on understanding math assessment practices through collecting data from math course syllabi, as well as researching concerns surrounding generative artificial intelligence (genAI).
I joined the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science as a Lecturer at the University of À¶Ý®ÊÓƵ in September 2022. It’s now a year later and reflecting on my first full-time year of teaching has brought up many memories of blissful excitement, daunting confusion (e.g., first hearing about Learn, Crowdmark, Odyssey, Workday, Quest, OAT, etc. all in the same week!), steadfast determination, and lessons learned.
This reflection began when I spoke at FYMSiC’s online conference in May...