It is time for one more update on the recent progress of the PDEng Renewal Task Force. Over the past few weeks the Task Force has been busy with a number of things. First of all we have been reviewing your feedback on the first set of recommendations and finalizing them based on the feedback received, as well as taking first steps towards implementation of some of the short-term fixes. I’m happy to report that the Task Force is moving right along with all four of the short term recommendations:
1. A new marking scheme, based on numerical grades and averaging has been developed and been approved by the Chairs and Associate Deans (CAD) committee. The goal is that the new marking scheme will be a big help to the students as it will no longer include the “weakest component” marking strategy. The new marking scheme will be in place for the Summer 2010 term. All further details about the marking scheme will be available soon at the Task Force website: http://www.engineering.uwaterloo.ca/pdengrenewal.
2. A focus group has been created in order to see what improvements can be made to the UW-ACE interface. The group consists of myself, David Lui, PDEng Staff and sometimes UW-ACE IT staff. We will be looking into (a) how to simplify navigation around existing PDEng courses and (b) how to ensure that transition to the new version of ACE (to be released in May) will be as smooth as possible. Once the new interface is finalized it will be tested by about 25 students.
3. An independent course critique has been designed for the PDEng courses and has been approved by the Academic Policy Committee (APC). The Task Force is currently in the stage of resolving some of the implementation issues.
4. Bringing the material to the PDEng workshops has already been only a recommendation versus a requirement for a number of terms.
The Task Force has also been looking into issues of workload, types of deliverables, delivery interface and will be releasing the next set of recommendations in early April. In doing so, the Task Force has been seeking input and building upon the experience from a number of groups and individuals including Chairs, Program Directors, Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies, WatPD Director and Professors and the Center for Extended Learning (i.e. Distance Education).
This is all for now, stay tuned for more updates. If you have any questions, concerns and/or suggestions please feel free to reach me or David by e-mail: aavrelin@engmail.uwaterloo.ca or asoc_vpedu@engmail.uwaterloo.ca.
Dean Comes to the EngSoc Meeting to talk about Funding Concerns Regarding PDEng
At the last EngSoc meeting, Dean Sedra took the time to address some of the concerns related to funding of the PDEng program that have been raised by students. At the meeting Dean Sedra made it clear that most of the Ontario government funding received for the PDEng program is spent on the PDEng program and is not banked within the faculty. Pretty much all that happens is that the University reports how many students are taking how many courses on the work-term and passes that information to the government. In return the government delivers the necessary funding as it would usually do for so many students enrolled in so many courses. Right now it costs roughly $2 million a year to run the program at no cost to the students. For this reason Dean Sedra stated that it would be impractical to move the whole program from the work-term onto the academic term; however, a small percentage of the program could be covered on the academic term if necessary. Finally Dean Sedra stressed that during the renewal process he is willing to introduce additional funding on top of the current budget in order to make the transition from the old to the new PDEng as smooth and as fast as possible. Sedra’s other goals include ensuring a better connection between the Faculty and PDEng Task Force, including direct involvement of faculty in the renewed PDEng courses. Big thanks to the Dean for coming out to the meeting!
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