Among many casualties of this pandemic must be counted the cancellation of the popular tradition of Polar Bear Swims’ on beaches across BC. Despite such official cancellations, some of the more adventurous Ursine spirited among us took a polar plunge anyway, daring the frosty, frigid waters for the solitary solace of a midnight swim to ring in the New Year. Uncertainties about the future continue to surround us. Still, as we enter our fourth term teaching online, it is essential to renew our resolve to meet the wakes and waves of this pandemic together, to keep our heads above water, and to fix our eyes on the far shore.

An Ocean of Opportunities: The window for applications to the Spring 0.6% PD fund is now open. Applications should be completed on ROMEO and submitted before Monday, January 25, 2021 (one week before the deadline).

A Rising Tide: KPU recently received notice that a team of investigators, including Asma Sayed (English), have been awarded a prestigious SSHRC Connections Grant, which will fund the organization of an EDI Symposium. The initiative aims to catalyze actionable ideas for equity, diversity, and inclusion. Congratulations!

Smarter Than the Average Bear: As you are updating your Moodle site, here are some quick ‘cut and paste’ flotation device-type links to add to your site for your students: 

Learning to learn online – https://kpu.pressbooks.pub/learningtolearnonline/

Online Supports for Students  – https://www.kpu.ca/learningcentres/onlinelearning 

Email & Moodle – https://wordpress.kpu.ca/onlinelearning/set-up-your-learning-technology/

Moodling Around  – https://www.kpu.ca/teaching-and-learning/technology/moodle/student

Flotsam and Jetsam: Academic integrity violations (AIVs) are the barnacles of University life – and they have become more prolific in today’s online environment. In response, we have organized an Arts Academic Integrity Symposium which will address preventative strategies (minimizing AIVs in your courses), assignment design, communication strategies for encouraging your students down a path of integrity, and evidentiary standards. Supported by the Teaching and Learning Commons, the symposium will take place on Monday, January 18, 10:00-11:30 on MS Teams. If you would like to submit a question in advance of the event, please send it to greg.millard@kpu.ca

Breakwater: Speaking of academic integrity, our own Gira Bhatt is the coauthor of a powerful opinion piece in last week’s Vancouver Sun entitled Will the Real Student Please Stand Up. The article encourages educators to alter their teaching practices and assignment design and stresses the importance of honesty and integrity.

Bear in Mind: We need you to submit your syllabi! Earlier this week, you received a message asking you to send along with your course presentations. If you haven’t already done so, please email these to Arts@kpu.ca.

In the Swim of Things: Don’t miss the January 13th Arts Speaker Series talk entitled “Redesigning Our World” which will feature a wide range of presenters including Shoshannah Bryn Jones Square, Faculty of Arts, in collaboration with KPU students Emmanuel Juma, Imran Nijjar, Kennedy Holick, Arman Grewal, Malisha Kumar, Ravneet Sahota, Jasmeen Deol, Manveer Singh, Genna Trinidad, William Westerberg, McKenzie McInnes, Neil Sharma.

To the Lighthouse: We were thrilled to learn this week that Dr. Rajiv Jhangiani was appointed Associate Vice President, Teaching and Learning. Dr. Jhangiani had been serving in the role in a pro tempore capacity since February 2020 and has been KPU’s mainstay for teaching and learning throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.  Rajiv has been a lighthouse beacon for the last three terms, guiding us initially through the frigid and broken/rugged/unsteady waters of emergency online delivery and the subsequent prolonged period of online delivery at KPU.    

When the pandemic first began last March and we made the pivot to online instruction and remote delivery, it was anyone’s guess how long it would last, or what its impact would be. Ten months and 44 Arts Updates later, we are keeping our heads above water and paddling forward.  The waters may be chilly this new year, but warmer tides and dry land beckon. In the words of Irish poet Seamus Heaney:

Believe that a further shore is reachable from here

Believe in miracles  

And cures and healing wells.   

Thank you for bearing with us! ?

Diane, Greg, Shelley, and Wade