It has come to my attention that students enrolling in courses during the first week of classes do not get immediately access to the password protected moodle course electronic classrooms. Therefore, these students don't have access to the course handouts in order to catch up with what they have missed in the first 1-2 lectures. […]
Science Education
More evidence that using Social Media in Science isn't frivolous
Who can resist being entranced by the gorgeous Fall colours around us? I find them distracting, even as Canada's science and sustainability communities have been focussed on much more weighty issues of a general election and Ada Lovelace Day, a celebration of Women in STEM. In the midst of the latter socially important stuff, I couldn't help […]
Now the hard work of restoring Canadian Science begins
On Monday 19th October, the highest number of eligible voters in Canada turned out since 1993, to hand the Liberal Party of Canada, led by Justin Trudeau, a majority government. The Green Party returned Elizabeth May to the House of Commons, while the NDP saw a huge drop in seats, and the Conservative Party of […]
Ada Lovelace Day 2015 at York University: 26th & 29th October 2015
Ada Lovelace Day was launched in 2009, by Suw Charman-Anderson, as way of drawing attention to and celebrating the under-appreciated contributions of women to STEM fields: Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. I first came across Ada Lovelace Day in 2013, when I added a post to the international map (below right), about one of my female mentors, Professor Emerita […]
Why academics should regularly attend conferences where we don't present our work. Pt 1
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics), one always presents new research at every conference one attends. (Or at the very least, one must be a co-author on a talk or poster). Growing up as an ecological researcher, I've observed that there are two main reason for this ALWAYS […]
Prof. Marc Spooner's next course should be "Best practices in conference organizing"
I fell behind with my blogs at the end of June, when my back pain flared up. I'd probably gone a bit overboard with driving and sitting/standing, and I spent Canada Day flat on my back, groaning. I'm again doing well with moving around and having the energy to stand and work. so I'm dealing with my 2 missing July posts, by (1) updating the […]
Getting back to field work at #BioBlitz2015 in the Don River Watershed
I took up field work for the 2nd time this season at the Ontario Bioblitz flagship event on the Don Watershed. The Ontario Science Centre was the HQ. I was joined by Vithuja Vijayakanthan, one of my remaining 2 graduate students from my IRIS director days. Her research, looks at the inherent tensions between the Bioblitz as a research vehicle, and […]
My first MOOC: UQx's Denial101x Making Sense of Climate Science Denial
Update August 4, 2015: Unfortunately, my lower back & hip injury, has taken up ridiculous amounts of my life, and limited me to a max of 7 hours a day work, standing up, since late April. I was very sad that this meant I simply couldn't complete this very worthwhile, beautifully organized MOOC. I watched the first […]
The sky high Opportunity Cost of dealing with #HigherEd administration
The reason I am late by a week with this post, is that I spent a ton of time last week: 1. With inspiring high school students and great colleagues (at right). For the 2nd year, I judged the Toronto Envirothon at the Ontario Science Centre. 2. With inspiring university students: I edited the publishable research of my […]
Jim Woodgett discusses the Challenges of Science Communication
Yesterday, Monday 2 March, Dr. Jim Woodgett, research director of Mount Sinai's Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, spoke about the issues and challenges faced by scientists, when it comes to doing effective communication of science in the public understanding of science realm. If you’re a Canadian scientist on Twitter you will know him as @JWoodgett, and may […]
