Invest in your future and earn the Aspire Certificate, which is designed to complement your academic program by providing opportunities to develop a range of skills and competencies.
To earn the certificate, complete five workshops in at least two Aspire pillars.
Learn more details about the Aspire Professional Development Certificate.
Some of the workshops are self-directed on MyLearningSpace.
Take charge of your personal well-being. Our workshops provide you with the skills to manage your time, mental health, and work-life balance. Foster self-awareness and mindfulness in your personal, scholarly, and professional life.
All sessions are virutal, 1 hour in length and open to all students.
Have you ever wondered why boundaries are important, or how to put them in place? Join us to learn about spoon theory, boundaries, and care for ourselves and others in the interactive workshop. You will take away practical strategies to set boundaries, and engaging in self and community care.
Skills Acquired: How to have boundary setting conversations. Knowledge on spoon theory and boundaries. Knowledge and skills to create a self-care plan.
Facilitator: Claire Howarth, MPH, MSW, RSW – Wellness Education Coordinator
In-person sessions offered:
In this workshop, we will learn about building and nourishing our relationships so they are sustainable, as well as supportive communication strategies. Relationships including friendships, romantic relationships, and supervisor relationships will be explored. This program is only for current graduate students. This is eligible for the Aspire Certificate.
Skills Acquired: In this workshop, we will learn about building and nourishing our relationships so they are sustainable, as well as supportive communication strategies.
Facilitator: Claire Howarth, MPH, MSW, RSW – Wellness Education Coordinator
Sessions offered:
Our teaching development workshops offer transferrable teaching skills and foundational teaching knowledge that can be used for both the classroom and the workplace. Learn about different pedagogies and hear from experienced staff and colleagues as they reflect on their experiences and share their knowledge.
All sessions are 90 minutes in length.
Self-paced Microsoft Stream recorded workshops:
For teaching assistants, recognizing how and when to provide feedback to learners can be a tricky task. Concerns about how much and the quality of the feedback provided is fundamental to students’ success. In this introductory session, participants will spend time exploring the complexity of providing guidance to learners as a TA and explore the idea of feedforward to support ongoing student development.
Skills Acquired: In this introductory session, participants will spend time exploring the complexity of providing guidance to learners as a TA and explore the idea of feedforward to support ongoing student development.
Sessions offered:
Does the room go quiet when you ask questions? Do you see blank stares when you try to get students talking? Knowing how to actively engage your students to enhance their learning is an important skill. This workshop will introduce you to some strategies to both ignite and sustain student engagement.
Skills Acquired: This workshop will introduce you to some strategies to both ignite and sustain student engagement.
Sessions offered:
How do you know you're an impactful teacher? How do you communicate this to others?
A teaching dossier is a collection of materials that tells a story about who you are as a teacher. Dossiers (or portfolios) can be used to apply for teaching positions, teaching awards, or as a means for personal reflection for self-growth.
Skills Acquired: This workshop will provide the key building blocks of an effective dossier, including a teaching philosophy statement and evidence of effectiveness. It will also help you reflect on how and why you teach the way you do in order to create an authentic, evidence-based narrative that showcases who you are as a teacher.
Facilitators: Rammy Saini and Erin Hodson
Sessions offered:
In any academic or professional environment, strong communication and leadership skills are critical. Perfect your writing and oral presentation skills with help from specialists in the field.
On-going self-paced learning on MyLearningSpace:
First, register for the workshop in MyLS by selecting "Self Registration," then select the workshop Library Research Workshops link and select "Register."
In this ASPIRE workshop, students will develop tools and strategies to write critical reflection papers. The workshop will discuss common challenges students face when writing reflection papers, including how to relate their personal experiences to academic literature. By the end of the workshop, students will have a better understanding of how to write and structure their reflection papers. The Zoom link for the workshop is included below. The Zoom link will also be emailed to all registered participants prior to the workshop
You can register for the workshop on the Student Success Portal.
Move successfully into your next career phase. ASPIRE workshops, run by Career Centre professionals, can help you to market your transferable skills, build your resumé, cover letter, and LinkedIn profile, and network and interview with confidence, among many other skills.
All sessions are virtual on Zoom.
Be prepared and ace your interview. What are employers really looking for from candiates? Join us as we discuss how to prepare for a successful job interview.
Skills Acquired: Participants will lear how to identify and present your best qualifications, formulate effective answers to common interview questions and strategies to help reduce stress and maximize your performance. Register on Navigator to receive the event link.
Facilitator: Lisa Roy, Career Centre
Sessions offered:
Join the session on Zoom, or in person for coffee and conversation, at the Waterloo Career Centre, Room CC-101. Please register to receive the event link.
Networking is your gateway to new opportunities, and it can be both exciting and rewarding! In this workshop, you'll learn how to confidently navigate networking events and recruiting sessions, transforming each encounter into a valuable connection. We'll review the essentials of a high-quality elevator pitch to ensure you make a powerful first impression. Plus, you'll learn how to leverage informational interviews to expand your network effectively. With these game-changing tips, you'll be ready to seize any opportunity and make every connection count!? Register on Navigator to receive the event link.
Skills Acquired: networking
Facilitator: Lisa Roy, Career Centre
Sessions offered:
Join the session on Zoom, or in person for coffee and conversation, at the Waterloo Career Centre, Room CC-101. Please register to receive the event link.
In this workshop, we'll explore strategies to help you thrive: navigating policies, procedures, and unwritten rules, managing expectations, and building meaningful professional connections. Our checklists will help you prepare. By asking the right questions and fully understanding your responsibilities, you'll hit the ground running and start adding value to your new team immediately!
Skills Acquired: workplace etiquette and expectations
Facilitator: Lisa Roy, Career Centre
Sessions offered:
Join the session on Zoom, or in person for coffee and conversation, at the Waterloo Career Centre, Room CC-101. Please register to receive the event link.
In today's professional context, an online presence is essential.
Skills Acquired: Linked In tools
Facilitator: Lisa Roy, Career Centre
Join the session on Zoom, or in person for coffee and conversation, at the Waterloo Career Centre, Room CC-101. Please register to receive the event link.
Research is a huge component of many Masters, PhD and Postdoctoral Fellow programs. Workshops in our research pillar can help you to complete the work that you are doing at Laurier and help prepare you for future research opportunities. Through workshops ranging from how to develop a research question, to managing your data, our research experts will teach you how to translate your technical work for non-specialist audiences.
Self-paced MyLearningSpace modules:
Students must self-register for "Libary Reserach Workshops" on MyLearning Space to gain access to these courses.
Covidence is a web-based tool that streamlines the screening and data extraction components of an evidence synthesis project, such as a systematic, scoping or rapid review. In this session, I will show you the main features of Covidence and provide a few tips and tricks for using it.
Skills Acquired: Participants will learn how to set up an account in Covidence, import references and remove duplicates, reduce bias and assess interrater reliability during screening, and build a data extraction table.
Facilitator: Fiona Inglis
Session offered: Nov. 5, 2025 at 11 a.m. Register for Nov. 5 workshop.
On January 1, 2026, Tri-Agency is expected to release a new Open Access (OA) policy. This policy, currently in draft and available for reading, is an update to the 2015 OA Policy. Under the revised policy, recipients of Tri-Agency grants will be required to: deposit peer-reviewed research articles associated with a Tri-Agency grant in a Canadian institutional repository at the time of publication use an open license at the time of deposit for these articles (e.g., Creative Commons licensing) Retain rights for the dissemination of peer-reviewed articles Acknowledge Agency contributions in all research outputs, including but not limited to peer-reviewed articles These changes are expected to be implemented on January 1, 2026 and will be applicable to recipients of grants awarded after that date. This webinar will introduce Library supports that will help researchers meet their OA requirements under the new policy. In particular, we will introduce Scholars Commons, our institutional repository, and explain how it will help you meet these requirements and disseminate your outputs with ease. This webinar is included in the 2025 ASPIRE series of workshops; researchers are encourage to invite their grad students to help them learn more about Tri-Agency's research policies. This webinar will be recorded and a link will be shared with participants for future playback.
Skills Acquired: Knowledge of Open Access - Academic repositories - Tri-Agency research policies.
Facilitator: Michael Steelworthy
Sessions offered:
Learn the very basics (or come for a refresher) on how Canadian laws are made, their key parts and where to find them. Discover resources for the analysis of laws and their impact, and how they have been interpreted in judicial proceedings.
Skills Acquired: Awareness of key legal instruments; awareness of how a Bill becomes a Law; where to look for the different parts of Law; discovery of sources for Legal Commentary.
Facilitator: Helene LeBlanc
Sessions offered:
Confused and overwhelmed by the proliferation of AI tools and their applications in the research process? This session will introduce GenAI tools designed specifically for scholarly literature research.
Skills Acquired: Assessment of academic research tools, critical thinking, literature search skills .
Facilitators: Peter Genzinger and Joanna Blair
Session offered:
On January 1, 2026, Tri-Agency is expected to release a new Open Access (OA) policy. This policy, currently in draft and available for reading, is an update to the 2015 OA Policy. Under the revised policy, recipients of Tri-Agency grants will be required to: deposit peer-reviewed research articles associated with a Tri-Agency grant in a Canadian institutional repository at the time of publication use an open license at the time of deposit for these articles (e.g., Creative Commons licensing) Retain rights for the dissemination of peer-reviewed articles Acknowledge Agency contributions in all research outputs, including but not limited to peer-reviewed articles These changes are expected to be implemented on January 1, 2026 and will be applicable to recipients of grants awarded after that date. This webinar will introduce Library supports that will help researchers meet their OA requirements under the new policy. In particular, we will introduce Scholars Commons, our institutional repository, and explain how it will help you meet these requirements and disseminate your outputs with ease. This webinar is included in the 2025 ASPIRE series of workshops; researchers are encourage to invite their grad students to help them learn more about Tri-Agency's research policies. This webinar will be recorded and a link will be shared with participants for future playback.
Skills Acquired: Knowledge of Open Access - Academic repositories - Tri-Agency research policies.
Facilitator: Michael Steelworthy
Sessions offered:
