Registration is now open for:
Leveraging your Strengths to Strategize for Success (discover your top 5 strengths, start to create a plan for grad school and career success)
Thurs, June 14 | 1 – 5 PM @ Thea Koerner House, UBC Point Grey Campus
For details and to register: grad.ubc.ca/about-us/events/16885-leveraging-your-strengths-strategize-success

Check out community.grad.ubc.ca for other opportunities including:
NVivo for Mac Workshop, Jun 5 | community.grad.ubc.ca/event/4701
Grad Student Writing Communities, Jun 5 or 6 | community.grad.ubc.ca/event/4803
Dissertation Bootcamp, Jun 25–26 | community.grad.ubc.ca/forum/4799
Networking Social for those seeking Biomedical /Translation Research Careers, June 14 | community.grad.ubc.ca/forum/4825

Thank you,
Jacqui.

Jacqui Brinkman
Manager, Graduate Pathways to Success Program
Office of the Dean | Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies
The University of British Columbia | Vancouver Campus
170 – 6371 Crescent Road | Vancouver BC | V6T 1Z2 Canada
Phone 604 827 4578 | Fax 604 822 5802
jacqui.brinkman@ubc.ca | @ubcgradschool
https://www.grad.ubc.ca/

Re: 2018-2019 LFS TA Training Coordinator Position

We are looking for one graduate student to fill the position of coordinator for the 2018-2019 LFS TA Training Program under the supervision of an Advisory Committee.

This position pays $30.32/hour for an approximately 110-hour contract. There is some flexibility when the hours are worked, but generally they will be as follows:

Month(s)	Coordination Hours
July/August	20
September	10
Oct/Nov/Dec	30
January	20
Feb/March/April	30

Background: LFS TA Training Program

The Faculty of Land & Food Systems has on average an annual total of 167 Teaching Assistantships, filled by approximately 110 Teaching Assistants. All TA positions involve very different duties and skills. TAs in the Faculty are responsible for: marking and assessing student work, leading lab activities, facilitating community and problem-based learning, giving lectures, monitoring in-class and online discussions, providing instruction on field trips, and more.

We are excited to offer LFS TAs a faculty-wide development program, which includes:

• A Teaching Assistant Handbook
• TA Orientations (September & January)
• Workshops in

o   Problem-based Learning

o   Instructional Skills

o   Marking & Assessment

o   Facilitation Skills

• Technology Seminars
• Early Alert Training
• Monthly TA Community of Practice Coffee Hours
• Access to Faculty-based Support for TAs

The overall program objectives are 1) to have TAs feel better prepared and supported in their TA roles, 2) to allow TAs to gain valuable professional skills (applicable beyond TA-ships), 3) to receive feedback from instructors and TAs on the skills they would like TAs to gain and 4) to establish a culture of Teaching Assistantships, where TAs and faculty are actively involved in a community of teaching and learning in LFS

Coordinator Job Responsibilities

• Preparation of the TA Training Grant application for UBC
• Develop the 2018-2019 TA Training Program (based on previous years records)
• Develop the 2018-2019 TA Training Program budget (based on previous years records)
• Update the 2018-2019 TA Handbook
• Coordinate and facilitate Term 1 and Term 2 Orientations
• Coordinate and facilitate monthly Community of Practice meetings
• Coordinate workshops (e.g., Problem Based Learning, Marking and Assessment, Conflict Management, Instructional Skills Workshop)
• Keep accurate accounting records of spending
• Monitor and record success of each TA Training Program activity with recommendations for improvement
• Develop annual progress reports
• Prepare project reports for the Granting agency
• Maintain records in open source (Google Drive) folders
• Promote high standard of teaching and learning in the faculty to students, TAs, instructors, faculty, staff and administration
• Develop a succession plan for future years (particularly relevant for masters students)
• Facilitate meetings with Faculty Advisory Committee (approximately 3 times/year) 

Qualifications

• Graduate student (Masters or PhD) in the Faculty of Land and Food Systems for 2018-2019 academic year
• Excellent oral and written communication skills
• Highly effective organizer and developed coordination skills
• Trained facilitator
• Proficient public speaker
• Strong interest in how we learn and teach
• Knowledge of campus-wide resources available to TAs for their teaching practice
• TA experience (preferably in the Faculty of Land and Food Systems)
• Self-driven and able to work on your own 

Application

Please submit all resumes and cover letters to Christine Scaman, Associate Dean Academic, Faculty of Land and Food Systems by June 1, 2018. Applications should be sent by email to christine.scaman@ubc.ca. Only successful applicants will be contacted for an interview. Position start date is July 1, 2018.

If you have any questions about the position, please direct them to the 2017-2018 TA Training Program Coordinators, Fernanda Mujica (mfmujica@mail.ubc.ca) or Colin Dring (colin.dring@ubc.ca)

 

Registration is now open for:

Storytelling for Change: Learn How to Share your Experience to Inspire Social Action

Tues, May 29 | 3 – 5 PM @ Irving K Barber Learning Centre, UBC Point Grey Campus

For details and to register:

grad.ubc.ca/about-us/events/16741-storytelling-change-learn-how-share-your-experience-inspire-social-action

 

Check out community.grad.ubc.ca for other opportunities including:

Careers in Not For Profits May 24 | 5:30 to 7:30 PM @Brock Hall  community.grad.ubc.ca/event/4769

Connections Café, (meet other mid-career grad students), June 6, 4:30 – 6, Life Building https://community.grad.ubc.ca/forum/4734

Rehearsing Conflict Workshop Series (Increase your skills and resilience when conflict occurs)| community.grad.ubc.ca/forum/4776

Citation Management using RefWorks, May 30 | community.grad.ubc.ca/event/4723

SPSS Data Management workshop, May 31 | community.grad.ubc.ca/event/4724

Formatting your Thesis workshop, Jun 1 | community.grad.ubc.ca/event/4710

 

Thank you,

Jacqui. 

Jacqui Brinkman
Manager, Graduate Pathways to Success Program
Office of the Dean | Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies
The University of British Columbia | Vancouver Campus
170 – 6371 Crescent Road | Vancouver BC | V6T 1Z2 Canada
Phone 604 827 4578 | Fax 604 822 5802
jacqui.brinkman@ubc.ca | @ubcgradschool
https://www.grad.ubc.ca/

We are running two events in June which may be of interest to students in your department. Could you please forward the following volunteering opportunities to them or post this on your student forum?

Summer Experience Science Day 2018
Join us for Experience Science Day! An annual event that welcomes 200 elementary school students from Downtown East Side to UBC to experience hands-on scientific activities.  Thanks to volunteers like you this program has become highly successful and is held twice each year, reaching twice as many youths and encouraging their participation in science. We’re looking for enthusiastic volunteers to run hands-on workshops entitled Salmon Sustainability for groups of 20-30 students in Grades 4-7.

When: June 7th, 2018. 9:00am-2:30pm
Where: UBC
Who: Grades 4-7 Students

Interested volunteers please sign up here (https://goo.gl/forms/r3myyzIz0DlEWodz1) or contact Evelyn at community@ubclts.com.

Science & Maker Jamboree at Granville Island
Granville Island is opening up its market to celebrate science. Join us as we host a booth at Science & Maker Jamboree (hosted by the Open Science Network), the ultimate summer science celebration. Engage with families as you teach them how to make candy into DNA, make their own slime, and more! There will be live music, food, and excitement.

When: June 17, 2018 9:30AM-4:30PM
Where: Granville Island
Who: Families

Interested volunteers please sign up here (https://goo.gl/forms/uFSGxaEl7Q6TPpcu2) or contact Evelyn at community@ubclts.com

Thank you!
Cheers,

Evelyn–

Community Events Coordinator

Email: community@ubclts.com

Website: www.ubclts.com

Twitter: @ubclts

 

May Focus: Enjoying the Rhythm of Summer

Being on campus in the summer is a special time—there is both an energy and a calm which offers a chance for us to increase our focus on the most important things we are working on.

To this end, it is the perfect time to join us at the Research Commons. Why wait until the moment before your thesis is due? Instead, enjoy the summer pace and check our great workshops off your list. They will truly help improve your efficiency with your thesis research, data collection, citation management, and formatting.

Quick Links

• Featured Instructor: Lok Chau
• SPSS
• Booking your One-on-One Consult
• NVivo
• Citation Management
• Literature Reviews: Part 1 and 2
• Graduate Student Writing Community
• Thesis Formatting
• Systematic Reviews Search Methods
• Pixelating: Our Digital Humanities Weekly Mixer
• Faculty of Graduate + Postdoctoral Studies Event: The Non-Academic Job Search for Graduate Students and Postdocs

·         Featured Instructor

·         When you decide to come to a Research Commons Workshop, you are making an investment in yourself with the guidance of our in-house experts.

·         Meet Lok

·         Lok joined our Research Commons team in 2017. He brings his expert knowledge of SPSS and R software to the classroom and to his own research. This summer, he hopes to complete his Masters in Measurement, Evaluation, and Research Methodology in the Faculty of Education.

If you have not had a chance to join the SPSS workshops with Lok and Vishal (Lok’s co-instructor), now would be the perfect time!

Because the landscape of quantitative data management software changes so quickly, Lok and Vishal work together to evolve the content of their workshops and consults on an ongoing basis. Their workshop covers SPSS and you can get help with SPSS, R, and Stata via 1-1 consultation.

Not sure where to even start with quantitative data management? That’s OK too! Book a consult today and Lok or Vishal can provide guidance on where to start and how to make the best decisions about quantitative software in your research.

Register for Lok and Vishal’s SPSS workshops.
Book a one-on-one consult.

 SPSS Support 

Many of our SPSS workshop participants say they only wished they had come to our workshop earlier! Join us today to learn this user-friendly statistical analysis software. You don’t need to write any code – SPSS does this for you with just a few clicks. 

SPSS Part 1: Environment, Data Entry and One Variable Analysis
Koerner Library, Room 217
Thursday, May 24th
10 AM – 12 PM

SPSS Part 2: Data Management and Bivariate Analysis
Koerner Library, Room 217
Thursday, May 31st
10 AM – 12 PM

You can also book a one-on-one SPSS consultation

 One-on-One Consults

We reopen for consults on May 14th! Book a consult here.

We offer consults in: 

• Citation Management
• GIS
• NVivo
• SPSS or R
• Stata
• Thesis Formatting

Our consults are conveniently offered in Room 218A in the Koerner Library (floor below main entrance). Can’t make it to campus? These consults are also available by Skype! 

NVivo Workshops

Working with text-based or multi-media data such as interviews, focus groups, or videos? NVivo is a powerful, user-friendly tool that can help you with data analysis. Join our workshop and see for yourself why so many our our past students only wish they came by sooner!

Join us this month for NVivo on the PC:

NVivo (Part 1) for PC – Getting Started with NVivo
Koerner Library, Room 217 (floor below main entrance)
Tuesday, May 15th
10 AM – 12 PM

NVivo (Part 2) for PC – Classification and Datasets
Koerner Library, Room 217 (floor below main entrance)
Tuesday, May 22nd
10 AM – 12 PM

Join us in June for NVivo on the MAC! If these dates don’t work for you, book a one-on-one NVivo consultation by going here.  

Citation Management

Not sure which citation management tool to pick? Check out our handy comparison table to help you decide. Join us in the month of May for Zotero, Mendeley and RefWorks workshops.

Zotero

Introduction to Citation Management Using Zotero
Koerner Library, Room 217
Wednesday, May 16th
10 AM – 12 PM

Mendeley

Introduction to Citation Management Using Mendeley
Koerner Library, Room 217
Wednesday, May 23rd
10 AM – 12 PM

RefWorks

Introduction to Citation Management Using RefWorks
Koerner Library, Room 217
Wednesday, May 30th
10 AM – 12 PM

One-on-One Consults
If your questions are more specific than our workshops or you need guidance on where to get started, please don’t hesitate to book a one-on-one consult 

Literature Reviews (Part 1 and 2)

A literature review is one of the key ways of building a foundation for a research project. Collecting material for your literature review is only half the task; the other half is writing the review. Take both of these workshops to get on the right track for researching and writing.

Literature Reviews (Part 1): Great Research Starts Here!
Thursday, May 17th
10 AM – 12 PM
Koerner Library—Room 217 (one floor below main entrance)

Topics covered in the Literature Reviews (Part 1): Great Research Starts Here workshop include:  

• finding the right databases
• search strategies for databases 
• finding scholarly articles, theses and dissertations, books, and more 
• resources to help you keep track of your research. 

Literature Reviews (Part 2): Great Writing Starts Here!
Friday, May 25th
10AM – 12PM
Koerner Library—Room 216 (one floor below main entrance)

Join this dynamic workshop to learn about:

• structuring the written product, including making a point, connecting ideas and themes, and providing a scaffold for the broader research project
• examining sample reviews to identify strengths and weaknesses

If you have further questions about Literature Reviews, including research or writing, contact research.commons@ubc.ca.

 Graduate Student Writing Community

Weekly on Tuesdays and Wednesdays 

Writer’s block? Feeling isolated in your research and writing? Bit of both? You are not alone! Come discover what a difference writing in a community can make in one of our weekly writing communities! Join us on Tuesdays from 2PM-4PM or Wednesdays from 5PM-7PM. 

 

Thesis Formatting Support

Have you heard about our Thesis Formatting workshop? Students consistently comment that this workshop saves them immense amounts of time. Join us this month! The last half hour of this interactive workshop is reserved for questions so you can get the specific help you need.

Friday, May 18th or Friday, June 1st
Koerner Library – Room 217 (floor below main entrance)
10AM – 12PM

Do you have specific questions about the formatting of your thesis that are not covered in our workshops? Book an appointment with one of our Thesis Formatting experts using the consult form.

Don’t forget to also check out our Thesis Formatting resources, including templates and guides!  

 Systematic Reviews Search Methods 

Need to know what the search process for systematic reviews is about? This session will cover: the stages of the systematic review process; framing your research question with tools like PICO; searching Medline and other databases, and the grey literature; and tips for using citation management software for systematic reviews.

Woodward Library
Computer Lab – Room B25
Thursday, May 24th
12PM – 2 PM

Can’t make this session? Contact your subject librarian or Woodward Library for additional resources and one-on-one help.

 

 Pixelating: A Digital Humanities Mixer
Co-working Sessions

The Pixelating Mixer is an opportunity for DH scholars across campus to meet colleagues, talk tools, brainstorm ideas and network with others who use digital tools to explore and visualize their research. Join us Thursdays 12-2 in Koerner Library