Things still to do

Hi Everyone:

Thank you for your contributions to a wonderful HEAL MEd beginning. My sense is that we have come together as quite disparate individuals, retaining and strengthening those different life perspectives and professional commitments, while also creating some common ground for engagement with one another. The reading of each others' blogs, working together in some of the presentations, and certainly the presentations themselves, have contributed to getting to know one another better. But so, too, have been the occasional opportunities to move and play as reminders that health education and active living are not just to be spoken about. The result is very pleasing and makes me smile in thinking of the collective cohort energy and respective individual perspectives that will be evident in future courses. The ball is now in your court as you shape this graduate program to your collective and individual purposes. Future instructors will bring their course-framed perspectives and academic expertise to the HEAL MEd curriculum, but you are the co-creators of this curriculum from now on.

In terms of course assignments and such, please attend to following:

a. Forward the remaining class presentation write-ups to me this week. I will then endeavor to have responses back to you by the end of the week. Tag the assignment "HEAL presentation."

b. Let me know by or on the weekend of the 25th what you want to do about the first assignment on "active living: practices and reflections." You can leave the blog to stand alone or, as we discussed in class, you can submit a separate 'assignment' if you feel there is a reflective dimension that you do not want to make pubic. Reference this assignment in email communication as "HEAL active living."

c. And submit the "HEAL major paper" by or on the weekend of the 25th.

This is all a bit of work flurry coming at the end of the semester, however I trust you are assured of your academic progress, as a result of draft assignment submissions, high quality class presentations, and blog entries, that much of the course work has been done and that we are now using the 'assignment' pieces to bring formal closure to this semester.

d. One last undertaking is filling out, through the online link, the Questionnaire on Teaching (course and instructor evaluation) for this EDUC 820 course.

Log into the following link using your SFU computing ID (this is your email address without the sfu.ca) and your password.

http://websurvey.sfu.ca/survey/90277486

The online survey is confidential and anonymous.

Below are some further notes on this survey sent out by the Graduate Programs office.

This survey will be done for all courses in the HEAL MEd. I leave you to read the rationale on the survey form itself and simply stress the importance of having such documentation for the purposes mentioned and as institutional evidence of program implementation by the course instructors.

The survey was opened a couple of days ago and it is one that is traditionally done in or very close to the last class. You will receive a reminder from Graduate Programs to complete it. There is a closure date of December 12th, but obviously the fresher the course memory the more meaningful is the exercise. Please attend to this task as soon as possible.

Thanks for attending to these various tasks. And thank you for realizing the promise of a HEAL MEd that was just a paper document a year ago. This semester has been deeply inspirational and satisfying for me and I look forward to following the HEALing adventure.

Cheers,

Stephen.

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The online link to the Questionnaire on Teaching (course and instructor evaluation) for your Fall term course will be open on November 18, 2011 at 8:00 am.

Please impress upon your students the importance of participating in this process, which is outlined in the Questionnaire’s introductory paragraph. It’s strongly suggested that you read this paragraph to the students prior to providing them with the online link. A copy of the Questionnaire is attached for your reference.

Please provide class time for students to complete the Questionnaire on Teaching by allowing students to use their personal computers or take the students to a computer lab. We suggest you provide the on-line link to the students during the second last class of the term.

Inform your students that the online survey is confidential and anonymous. Instruct them to log into the following link using their SFU computing ID (this is their email address without the sfu.ca) and their password.

http://websurvey.sfu.ca/survey/90277486

Only those students who are on the class roster will be able to log into the secure online course evaluation site. The Faculty of Education will not be able to identify which student on the class roster has logged into the site nor will we be able to identify whose comments are whose. Students will be blocked from submitting more than one evaluation.

A reminder notice to complete the online Questionnaire on Teaching will be sent directly to the students on the class roster on December 5, 2011. The link will remain open until midnight on December 12, 2011.

If you have any questions or concerns about this process, please do not hesitate to contact the Faculty of Education, Graduate Programs office via return email or phone: 778-782-3591.

Thank you.