I managed to achieve “flow” this morning. This is not, I should clarify, an admission of prostate problems, but rather a celebration of having achieved a cognitive state so engrossing that several hours passed without my noticing. The notion of flow was originated by psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, but it’s a state of mind that we all (hopefully) get to experience from time to time, either in our work or while we’re engaged in a favorite hobby. The key to achieving flow is “just manageable challenge”: that is, the task we are trying to achieve has to be one that is not so easy that it seems routine nor so difficult that it becomes frustrating. Flow exists at the upper edge of our skill set. Continue reading Flow, and how it helped me create a web resource — Mark Morton
Month: May 2009
CTE launches new registration system – Trevor Holmes
In May 2009, timed to coincide with the launch of our new website, CTE began to use the centrally-supported Enterprise Learning Management system through Human Resources, just like the Safety Office before us, and other support units considering the same system on campus. You can use the self-service function in myHRinfo (not far from where you can see your paycheque and benefits!) to register yourself in most of our workshops and events. For specific instructions, click on the tab “Registration Procedures” from our CTE Events page. Continue reading CTE launches new registration system – Trevor Holmes
CTE’s New Website Launched – Mark Morton
The Centre for Teaching Excellence launched a new website this week, one that is not only more aesthetically pleasing than our old site, but is also designed to provide more resources, more functionality, and more user-control. Here are some of the enhancements: Continue reading CTE’s New Website Launched – Mark Morton
Troublesome workshop invited us over the threshold – Trevor Holmes
Relying heavily on one of higher education’s most recent door-opening concepts to run a workshop on, well, door-opening concepts, Gary Poole took a FLEX lab full of people through our paces Tuesday morning, May 5th, 2009. After his Presidents’ Colloquium talk on the Monday, in which he addressed the powerful phenomenographic notion of deep versus surface learning (more on that another post), Continue reading Troublesome workshop invited us over the threshold – Trevor Holmes
Faculty event: panel on writing reference letters for your graduate students – Trevor Holmes
Three experienced (and successful) writers of reference letters for graduate students, Sandra Burt (Political Science, Associate Dean of Arts, Graduate Studies and Research), Ian Rowlands (Environment and Resource Studies, Associate Dean, Research, Faculty of Environment) and Ralph Haas (Civil and Environmental Engineering, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, FRSC), will share their advice and expertise. Continue reading Faculty event: panel on writing reference letters for your graduate students – Trevor Holmes