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Fall Exam Jam – November 21 – 25

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We have a full list of events to get you connected, destressed and ready for exams!

Monday, November 21st

11:00am – 1:00 pm           BCIT Student Association table with Bubble Tea (Bby Library, main floor)

11:00am – 12:30pm          Student Life Ambassadors table + free energy bars (Bby Library, main floor)

11:30am – 12:30pm          Peer Tutor Tips (SW1)

1:00pm – 2:00pm             Peer Tutor Tips (Bby Library, main floor)

5:30pm – 7:30pm             Peer Tutor Tips (Bby Library, Tutor Welcome Desk)

Tuesday, November 22nd

10:00am – noon                Drop-in Learning Skills (Bby Library, Room 207)

11:00am – 1:00pm            Student Life Ambassadors table + Snacks & Hot Drinks (Bby Library, main floor)

11:30am – 12:30pm          Peer Tutor Tips (Bby Library, main floor)

11:30am – 1:30pm            House Plant Swap (Bby Library, main floor)

1:00pm – 3:00pm             Drop-in Learning Skills (Bby Library, Room 207)

5:30pm – 7:30pm             Peer Tutor Tips (Bby Library, Tutor Welcome Desk)

Wednesday, November 23rd

10:00am – noon                Drop-in Learning Skills (Bby Library, Room 207)

11:30am – 1:30pm            Paint Party (Bby Library, main floor)

1:00pm – 2:00pm             Peer Tutor Tips (SW1)

1:30pm – 2:30pm             Peer Tutor Tips (Bby Library, main floor)

2:30pm – 4:30pm             Drop-in Learning Skills (Bby Library, Room 207)

2:30pm – 4:30pm             Indigenous Student Champions table (Bby Library, main floor)

2:30pm – 4:30pm             Peer Tutor Tips (Bby Library, Tutor Welcome Desk)

2:30pm – 3:00pm             Mindfulness Brain Break (Bby Library, Room 303)

3:00pm – 5:00pm             Board Game Night with the SLAs (Bby Library, Room 303)

Thursday, November 24th

11:00am – 1:00pm            Doggy De-Stress (Bby Library, main floor & Great Hall)

11:00am – 1:00pm            Student Life Ambassadors + table Snacks & Hot Drinks (Bby Library, main floor)

1:00pm – 2:00pm             Peer Tutor Tips (SW1)

1:30pm – 2:30pm             Peer Tutor Tips (Bby Campus Library, main floor)

5:30pm – 7:30pm             Peer Tutor Tips (Bby Library, Tutor Welcome Desk)

Friday, November 25th

2:30pm – 4:30pm             Indigenous Student Champions table (Bby Campus Library, main floor)

 

For those of you studying at the BCIT downtown campus, we’ve got you covered as well. All tabling will take place at the Tech Collider on the 2nd floor of the downtown campus.

Monday, November 21st

5:00pm – 7:00pm             Peer Tutor Tips

Tuesday, November 22nd

1:00pm – 3:00pm             Student Life Ambassadors table with tips on Sleep Hygiene

5:00pm – 7:00pm             Peer Tutor Tips

Wednesday, November 23rd

3:00pm – 5:00pm            Student Life Ambassador table with tips on Sleep Hygiene

5:00pm – 7:00pm            Peer Tutor Tips

Thursday, November 24th

10:00am – noon               Drop in Learning Skills

1:00pm – 4:00pm            Drop in Learning Skills

5:00pm – 7:00pm            Peer Tutor Tips

 

For a detailed list of events and some great resources go here.

November 16th is GIS Day!

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by Matthew Murray

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is the framework for finding and using geographic and map data. GIS data is used in both the public and private sectors to support everything from finding out when the next bus is coming to mapping which stores in San Francisco have cats.

BCIT has several GIS programs that will go in-depth to teach you about GIS and how it’s used in urban planning, health services, transportation, and more. If you’re looking for an intro to GIS (or just want to look at some cool maps) the Library has put together this list of a few of the resources we have available.

Note: AppsAnywhere provides access to ArcGIS and ArcGIS Pro software.

Videos (login with your @bcit.ca email address)

  • Foundations of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) by Jennifer Harrison and Madecraft (58m)
    • Learn how to find data, create maps, and understand the basics of GIS.
  • ArcGIS Pro Essential Training by Gordon Luckett (3h 17m)
    • This course teaches the essentials of working with ArcGIS Pro, including how to get started editing GIS data and creating both 2D and 3D visualizations.

eBooks

Print Books

  • The ESRI Guide to GIS analysis by Andy Mitchell and Lauren Scott Griffin (G 70.212 M57 2020)
    • Teaches foundational spatial analysis and builds on that understanding with essential map-building skills to unveil and display patterns and relationships.
  • GIS Fundamentals by Stephen Wise (G 70.212 W58 2014)
    • Provides a clear and accessible introduction to how Geographic Information Systems store and process spatial data.
  • How to Lie with Maps by Mark Monmonier (G 108.7 M66 2018)
    • Examines the ways that technology offers new opportunities for cartographic mischief, deception, and propaganda.
  • Transit Maps of the World by Mark Ovenden (G 1046 P33 O94 2015)
    • A comprehensive collection of historical and current maps of every rapid-transit system on earth.

Maps

  • BurnabyMap
    • The City of Burnaby’s map application can show you everything from the elevation of different parts of the city to which streets are Priority 1 Snow Removal Routes.
  • BCIT’s Map Collection
    • Housed in cabinets on the third floor of the Burnaby Campus Library. Maps can be checked out for 2 days.

Can’t find a specific book or map? Reach out to Matthew Murray, our GIS liaison librarian.

Start Propagating Today! House Plant Swap

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When:     November 22, 2022
Time:       11:30am – 12:30pm (or as long as the plants last)
Where:    main floor of the Burnaby Campus Library

Would you love a free houseplant to brighten up your space?  Always wanted to try propagating, but wasn’t sure what you would do with the extra plants? Or maybe your plants multiplied during COVID? Then we have an event for you!

BCIT seed library is branching from seeds into plants!

How it works:

1) Bring any plants you have managed to propagate to the event.

2) Look for cute plants you want in your space.

3) Take them home! (Note you don’t need to bring a plant to take a plant, but the more the better!)

What you need to do now . . . find some yogurt containers or small pots and start making cuttings of your plants! Here are some resources to help you get started:

https://cityfloralgreenhouse.com/2020/09/houseplant-101-how-to-propagate-houseplants-easily/#:~:text=Start%20by%20cuttin…

https://www.houseplantsexpert.com/propagating-house-plants.html

Please contact Deirdre Grace (deirdre_grace@bcit.ca) or Alison Griffin (agriffin11@bcit.ca) for more information.  Hope to see you there!

New Food Support Hub for BCIT Students Experiencing Food Insecurity

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Food insecurity has severe implications for one’s health and wellbeing. Post-secondary students are particularly vulnerable, with over 50% of students at Canadian post-secondary institutions experiencing moderate to severe levels of food insecurity. The Food Support Hub is an all-encompassing service that includes several different avenues for all BCIT students to access support.

ABOUT THE BCITSA FOOD SUPPORT HUB:
Through the Food Support Hub, students in need, can access the following resources:

Food Pantry
Students who need immediate food support can access BCITSA’s Food Pantry on the Burnaby campus. This is a free initiative, located on the 2nd floor of SE2, where members of the BCIT Community can obtain accessible, nutritionally, and culturally appropriate food in a just and ecologically sound manner.

Emergency Food Fund (EFF)
Students experiencing emergent food insecurity, who are primarily based online or at the Specialty/Satellite campuses may be eligible to receive support for emergency food. Eligible students may access the service using the Wellness Support Services form.

Community Fridge
The Community Fridge is a safe, low-barrier, and non-judgmental way for staff, students, and faculty to support each other, reduce waste, and help to ensure everyone in our community can feed themselves and their families.

Quest Food Exchange Referral
Students may receive a 3-year referral-only membership to shop at this low-cost grocery store that operates from several locations (Burnaby, Vancouver, North Vancouver, Surrey)

Community Food Network
Discover a wide range of food supports on and off campus. Filter options by location, type of support, and cost (if any!).

GET INVOLVED!
The Pantry and Community Fridge are looking for volunteers. Learn more about the volunteer positions and apply here.

For more info, email foodsupport@bcitsa.ca or book a Wellness Support Appointment.

Overdue Fines? Not Anymore!

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Starting November 1st, 2022, the BCIT Library is joining the large number of Post Secondary Libraries in waiving fines for students. We will no longer charge overdue fines on regular material. We recognize this is a financially difficult time for a lot of students and eliminating overdue fines is an effort to improve the student experience and remove barriers to learning.

Effective November 1, 2022

  • Overdue fines are eliminated for all regular material.
  • Excludes reserve items, ILL, laptops, iPads, iTouches and other devices.
  • You will receive reminder notifications by email to either renew the item or return it.
  • If an item is not returned or renewed within 30 days of its due date, the item will be considered lost and you will be billed. There is no fine if the item is returned. However, if the item is not returned, you will be billed the replacement cost.

Go to our Students Borrowing Materials page for up-to-date details.

In Celebration of the New AskAway Chat Tag: Open Education

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By Elizabeth Padilla
Institutional Repository, Marine Engineering and Nautical Sciences, HITL
BCIT Library

The new Open Education tag allows us to track those questions when a service provider explains or provides access to Open Access, Open Education, or Open Textbook resources. This includes questions about no-cost textbook options, for example a student looking for an older version of a textbook from the library.

The role of libraries is evolving and expanding in our fast-changing information environment, and expertise in open education and open access is a crucial asset for modern library staff providing reference and information services. Libraries play an important part in discovery, development, description, licensing, curation, and sharing of Open Educational Resources (OER), as well as in advocating for and supporting their use:

  • Open Access to Scholarship
  • OER, Open Textbooks, and Open Courses in the classroom
  • Helping Faculty Find, Evaluate, and Adapt OER
  • Opening up your Institution

If you are a librarian or library technician in B.C.’s post-secondary system, you’ve probably come across the B.C. Open Collection maintained by BCcampus, which started as a collection of open textbooks in 2012. Over the years, the demand for open education in B.C. has grown to support a greater range of open learning and teaching resources.

“The success of open education in B.C. is attributed to the dedication of educators, librarians, administrators, instructional designers, educational technologists, and student advocates. I thank each of them for their contributions to making education in B.C. more accessible and affordable to all.” Amanda Coolidge, Interim Executive Director at BCcampus.

B.C. Open Collection by BCcampus

Visit https://collection.bccampus.ca/

There’s a new home for the collection, and not only does it look better and include more content, but also it provides a better user experience for anyone looking for OER for their course.

The B.C. Open Collection is a platform of open educational resources (OER). It includes open courses as well as a huge library of open textbooks, all with a focus on transferability in the B.C. post-secondary system.

It also includes all the specific learning materials of those open courses. For example, if you are asked about materials on plagiarism during an AskAway session, you can search for ‘plagiarism’ in the B.C. Open Collection and then filter by Material Type (ex: Reading Materials, Assessments, Assignments) to retrieve a number of open learning resources for plagiarism including quizzes. The course collection is still in early days, so the number of resources will only grow over the next few years.

Sharing is Caring

I had the unique pleasure to work with the BCcampus development team as a metadata librarian working to improving findability across the entire collection. Using metadata standards for learning resources, and schemas for structured data on the Internet, a shared vocabulary and some familiar library cataloguing techniques that I brought, combined with the remarkable coding and very talented user interface design, we produced a new home for the collection that will make finding the right OER course materials when you need them easier.

The new collection site currently includes 10 fully developed and openly licensed courses created by B.C. post-secondary educators and funded by a series of BCcampus open online course grants awarded over the past 18 months.

“We hope to see more open courses become a part of this collection,” said Amanda. “We will continue to add relevant open textbooks, open courses, and other vetted resources — ancillary materials with homework and test banks — into the collection, providing an experience to the user that makes them aware these are quality open materials they can use right off the web in their own courses.”

Why are Open Educational Resources (OER) important for faculty and students?

  • Equal Access to High Quality Educational Resources
  • Empowers Teachers In Having a voice in Sharing Instructional Content with their Students
  • Empowers Teachers to create Content and Not be Bound by What Publishers offer
  • Working with OER you Join a Fun and Supportive Community of Scholar Learners
  • Takes Worries about Copyright Out of the Classroom
  • Open Textbooks offer Students less financial Burden, and more success
  • Open Educational Resources offer global equity to Education

BCcampus will continue to support post-secondary institutions in British Columbia by adding relevant open textbooks, open courses, and other vetted resources into the collection, providing a resource of quality open materials that instructors can use right off the web in their own courses.

Learn more

Explore the B.C. Open Collection: https://collection.bccampus.ca/

Read about its new home: Creating a Better User Experience for the B.C. Open Collection / by BCcampus editorial team June 16, 2022 https://bccampus.ca/2022/06/16/creating-a-better-user-experience-for-the-b-c-open-collection/

Open Education Grants – 2022/23

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OER Development Grants (up to $5,000)

Develop openly licensed learning materials:

  • make substantial revisions to existing OER (open educational resources) to better suit class subject matter and learning outcomes
  • create an openly licensed learning resource in any category or format (eg. textbook, videos, manual, question or test bank)

The LTC and the Library can provide some support for funded grant projects.

These funds are usually distributed as (part-time studies) contracts so are subject to tax and benefits deductions.

The call for proposals will close Monday, October 17, 2022.

Grant Application Form

Open Education Course Transformation Micro-Grants ($500)

Transform a current or new course to include one or both of the following:

  • ZTC (zero textbook costs): replace learning materials currently used in the course that students pay for (eg. textbooks, lab manuals, readings) with materials that are free for students (eg. OER, freely available information such as government documents, and/or BCIT Library materials)
  • OEP (open education practices/pedagogy): incorporate substantive OEP into the course.

A short student survey and final report is required.

Support from the Library and the Learning and Teaching Centre is available:

  • to consult with a Librarian to help with a search for OER and other free-to-use learning materials
  • to consult with an Instructional Development Consultant to help determine appropriate open practices that match the subject matter and learning outcomes of the course

These funds are distributed as part-time studies contracts so are subject to tax and benefits deductions.

The call for proposals will close Monday, October 17, 2022.

Grant Application Form

National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

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All BCIT libraries will be closed on Friday, September 30th in recognition of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. The ehPod will remain open 24/7.

The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, September 30th, builds on Orange Shirt Day, a legacy of the St. Joseph Mission (SJM) Residential School (1891-1981) Commemoration Project and Reunion events that took place in Williams Lake, BC, Canada, in May 2013.

In honour and remembrance of the students that attended residential schools, BCIT Indigenous Initiatives is reminding Canadians to reflect, dialogue, learn about the history and impact of Canada’s residential school system on Indigenous Peoples.

Indigenous Initiatives at BCIT aims to inspire Canadians to take part in the We Will Always Remember Project to create orange paper shirts (anything to create/sew/draw their orange shirt).

As part of the #WeWillAlwaysRemember project, the Library will be hosting an orange shirt making event. Stop by the main floor of the Burnaby Campus Library on September 27th between 10am to 1pm and fold a paper orange shirt to display in your offices, classroom, and/or window. The process of creating ‘shirts’ together ensures we engage all our senses and take the time to pause and reflect while learning together. We also wanted something that would be an ongoing visual representation and reminder of the numbers of children that attended residential schools.