Awneet Sivia gets passionate about anything that enhances the university experience for students. Awneet, UFV’s Associate Vice-President, Teaching and Learning, is always in favour of technology that provides faculty with new ways to engage learners, and that’s why she’s so keen about a new Learning Management System (LMS).   UFV is transitioning from Blackboard to Brightspace,…

A single week could make all the difference in your teaching skills thanks to the Instructional Skills Workshop (ISW) offered by UFV’s Teaching and Learning department. Participants come from a variety of fields (including UFV faculty, staff, and members of the local community) to spend four days learning how to build and then conduct engaging…

Near the top of each on-air interview, Victoria Surtees, the host and creator of the new UFV Ekta podcast series, asks each guest the same two-part question: “What is one time you have felt powerful and one time you have felt powerless?”  For the UFV students on the other end of those questions, it has…

Dr. Awneet Sivia has been selected as UFV’s next Associate Vice-President, Teaching and Learning. Dr. Sivia is currently an associate professor in the UFV Teacher Education department and program chair of the Master of Education in Educational Leadership and Mentorship degree. She has worked at UFV since 2011 and replaces Dr. Maureen Wideman in the…

Pivoting to a full-scale, remote online learning environment within a few days does not just happen. Software and licensing have to be purchased and approved by university leaders. There has to be IT capacity to roll out and maintain the technologies. But possibly most important of all, there has to be a knowledgeable and passionate…

A University of the Fraser Valley professor who prepares the next generation of teachers to enter the field has been honoured for her own teaching skills with a 3M National Teaching Fellowship. Dr. Awneet Sivia, who has taught and provided leadership in UFV’s Teacher Education department since 2011, is one of 10 Canadian post-secondary educators…

The University of the Fraser Valley is investing $224,000 to support 30 projects developed by the UFV community aimed at implementing the University’s integrated strategic plan: IYAQÁWTXW: House of Transformation. A total of 38 proposals were submitted in response to the Provost’s call for funding from the Strategic Initiatives Fund. Funding was open to any…

Dr. Maureen Wideman can relate to all the working-from-home traps that a pandemic year can present: The Zoom fatigue; the yearning for face-to-face interaction; the being confined to the home office. Recently Wideman, the AVP of Teaching and Learning at UFV, even discovered that she had low Vitamin D levels. “I was sitting in my…

Almost all UFV courses will be offered online this semester due to the social distancing required to mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 virus. This means that UFV faculty members have had to adjust to teaching in an online environment. Dr. Mai Anh Doan is an assistant professor of communications at UFV. She had some…

Dr. Judy Larsen of UFV’s Upgrading and University Preparation (UUP) department has been recognized for her creative approach to teaching mathematics with an award from the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE), in partnership with D2L (formerly Desire2Learn). Larsen was one of four recipients of the 2020 D2L Innovation Award in Teaching…

The secret to putting together a great event team is all about the mix of people.  There should be a variety of different personalities and character traits so all aspects of planning are covered. Each team member should bring a set of unique skills and strengths. And it doesn't hurt if the group has a…

A leading innovator in approaches to teaching will share his insights at the University of the Fraser Valley on Feb 27. Dr. Peter Looker is the next speaker in the President’s Leadership Lecture Series. His presentation will take place at 4:30 pm in the Abbotsford campus lecture theatre (B101). Admission is free and the public…

Dr. Maureen Wideman has been promoted to Associate Vice President, Teaching and Learning. Wideman has been Director of Teaching and Learning at UFV since 2014.  "This brings the position into line with that of the AVP, Research, Engagement, and Graduate Studies, an alignment that better fits a teaching-centred university, and will increase the profile and…

A number of small changes are combining to transform learning at UFV thanks to special project aimed at supporting new initiatives in teaching and learning. Teaching and learning have changed significantly and UFV is taking steps to transform physical learning environments to support this change. The $2.5M in funding comes from two years of special…

  If you’re going to take a seat in Dr. Martha Dow’s sociology classroom, you’d better be prepared to be an engaged and active participant in the course.Dow, winner of this year’s Teaching Excellence award at the University of the Fraser Valley, wants students’ minds to be stretched, shifted, and challenged, and for them to…