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. First, register for the workshop by selecting "Self Registration," then select the workshop, and select "Register."
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.
Self-Compassion
Do you find it difficult to turn off the critical voice inside your head? Drop in to learn how to practice self-compassion to improve your mood, increase your resiliency and motivation, and feel more comfortable with yourself overall. This workshop is run by Heather, a counsellor from the Student Wellness Centre and counts as an elective toward the Wellness Education Certificate.
Oct. 22, 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. Register in Advance
Positivity in Practice
Learn about Positive Psychology and the secrets to increasing positive emotions, decreasing negativity, and creating daily satisfaction. Practical exercises and strategies will be the focus of this workshop, so that you come away with tools to foster a positive and growth-oriented mindset. This workshop is run by Chris, a clinical counsellor from the Student Wellness Centre and counts as an elective toward the Wellness Education Certificate.
Nov. 12, 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. Register in Advance
Exam and Performance Anxiety
Learn ways to handle performance anxiety, improve your mental game, and find inner calm during midterms and exams. This workshop will also address the additional stresses caused by online exams. This workshop is run by Victoria, a clinical counsellor from the Student Wellness Centre and counts as an elective toward the Wellness Education Certificate.
Nov. 26, 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. Register in Advance
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:
Sparking Student Engagement
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.
Thursday October 10th 10AM – 11:30AM Click here to register
Providing Student Feedback and Feedforward
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.
Monday October 21st 2PM – 3:30PM Click here to register
Sparking Student Engagement
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.
Monday November 4th 2PM – 3:30PM Click here to register
Reflections and Connections: Developing your Teaching Dossier
How can you make your teaching dossier stand out? Whether you are applying for internal awards, external honours or as part of a hiring package or even as a means of personal reflection, your teaching dossier plays a pivotal role in showcasing your teaching practice.
A teaching dossier is a collection of materials that tells a story about who you are as a teacher by displaying your teaching strengths through narrative and evidence-based materials. The content should be carefully curated to provide an authentic narrative that speaks to the intended audience (yourself, peers, committees). As a self-reflective tool, it can also act as a living document that evolves with you as an instructor.
This workshop will help you reflect on how and why you teach the way you do and support you in finding creative ways to make your teaching approaches and beliefs jump off the page using narrative and evidence-based materials. We’ll walk through key dossier components and discuss the role of teaching philosophies in forming the framework of your overall teaching dossier.
Thursday November 21st 10AM – 11:30AM Click here to register
Reflections and Connections: Developing your Teaching Dossier
How can you make your teaching dossier stand out? Whether you are applying for internal awards, external honours or as part of a hiring package or even as a means of personal reflection, your teaching dossier plays a pivotal role in showcasing your teaching practice.
A teaching dossier is a collection of materials that tells a story about who you are as a teacher by displaying your teaching strengths through narrative and evidence-based materials. The content should be carefully curated to provide an authentic narrative that speaks to the intended audience (yourself, peers, committees). As a self-reflective tool, it can also act as a living document that evolves with you as an instructor.
This workshop will help you reflect on how and why you teach the way you do and support you in finding creative ways to make your teaching approaches and beliefs jump off the page using narrative and evidence-based materials. We’ll walk through key dossier components and discuss the role of teaching philosophies in forming the framework of your overall teaching dossier.
Monday December 9th 2PM – 3:30PM Click here to register
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:
Details for each session and registration links can be found on the Graduate Tab of the Writing Service Workshop site.
ASPIRE: Writing Literature Reviews
Graduate students are often tasked with writing a literature review during their coursework or graduate studies. This workshop will provide MA and PhD students with strategies on how to organize, structure, and write a literature review. We will also discuss how to frame your literature review around a scholarly gap or research problem. 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.
CV Writing for Academic Jobs for Master’s + PhD Students & Postdoctoral Fellows
Interested in a career in academia or research?
Participants will learn the unique purpose, format and guidelines for creating an effective Curriculum Vitae (CV), as well as clarify the main distinctions between a resumé and a CV.
October 4, 9:30 am -11:00 am Register in Navigator to receive the Zoom link.
Resumé & Cover Letter Writing for Master’s + PhD Students & Postdoctoral Fellows
Have you updated your employment documents lately? What are employers looking for in resumés and cover letters? Do you have to target your resumé? Do you even need a cover letter?
Participants in this workshop will learn tools and strategies to present your relevant qualifications effectively and connect your skills, experiences and abilities to a target job.
October 9, 5:00 pm -6:30 pm Register in Navigator to receive the Zoom link.
LinkedIn for Master’s + PhD Students & Postdoctoral Fellows
In today’s professional context, an online presence is essential.
Participants in this workshop will learn about tools and strategies to build your LinkedIn profile, represent yourself professionally, maximize your career research and build your online networks.
October 23, 5:00 pm - 6:30 pm Register in Navigator to receive the Zoom link.
Network with Confidence for Master’s + PhD Students & Postdoctoral Fellows
Networking is one of the best things you can do for your career. Not sure where to start?
Participants will learn how to network online, build your elevator pitch, develop a professional reputation, and gain strategies for conducting informational interviews.
October 25, 9:30 am - 11:00 am Register in Navigator to receive the Zoom link.
Interview Success for Master’s + PhD Students & Postdoctoral Fellows
What are employers really looking for from candidates? Join us as we discuss how to prepare for a successful job interview.
Participants will learn 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.
November 1, 9:30 am -11:00 am Register in Navigator to receive the Zoom link.
Competency Identification and Articulation for Master’s + PhD Students & Postdoctoral Fellows
Do you know what competencies you have and what employers are seeking? Align your competencies with your career development goals in this hands-on workshop. You will be able to identify and assess your personal competencies, identify areas for improvement and learn how to showcase the value of your experiences to an employer.
November 8, 9:30 am - 11:00 am Register in Navigator to receive the Zoom link.
Network with Confidence for Master’s + PhD Students & Postdoctoral Fellows
Networking is one of the best things you can do for your career. Not sure where to start?
Participants will learn how to network online, build your elevator pitch, develop a professional reputation, and gain strategies for conducting informational interviews.
November 13, 5:00 pm - 6:30 pm Register in Navigator to receive the Zoom link.
Academic Job Search for Master’s + PhD Students & Postdoctoral Fellows
The academic job market can be difficult to navigate. Early preparation is essential for advancement within the professional academic arena.
Participants will explore the academic labour market and factors tied to success and explore how best to promote yourself and build your reputation and academic connections.
November 15, 9:30 am -11:00 am Register in Navigator to receive the Zoom link.
Academic Interview Strategies for Master’s + PhD Students & Postdoctoral Fellows
The academic interview process can feel like a marathon!
Participants in this session will learn what to expect during the interview process, and how to prepare for these components. Learn how to present yourself as a well-rounded candidate who stands apart from the competition.
November 22, 9:30 am -11:00 am Register in Navigator to receive the Zoom link.
Job searching and creating connections to establish yourself as a professional.
Did you know that most jobs are filled before they are posted? Employers hire people through people.
Participants in this workshop will learn how to tap into the hidden job market using effective research and networking techniques.
November 29, 9:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. – Register here
Register in Navigator to receive the Zoom 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:
Introduction to Archival Research
Learn how archival material is organized, how to access, use, and evaluate archival material, and what to expect when visiting the archives.
Identify common characteristics of archival material and find and evaluate archival material
October 2, 11 am – Register here
Zotero: A free tool to manage your citations
Use Zotero to streamline how you collect sources and create bibliographies. If you’re doing a research assignment, thesis, dissertation, or capstone project, this tool will save you time. Please note: a workshop about Mendeley is also available. If you’re unsure which tool to use, it helps to ask a professor or student in your program what they use
October 1, 2 pm - 3:00 pm – Register here
October 10, 10:00 am - 11:00 am – Register here
Mendeley: A Free Tool to Manage Your References
Use Mendeley to streamline how you collect sources and create bibliographies. If you’re doing a research assignment, thesis, dissertation, or capstone project, this tool will save you time. Please note: a workshop about Zotero is also available. If you’re unsure which tool to use, it helps to ask a professor or student in your program what they use. Questions? libcitations@wlu.ca
October 23, 10 am – Register here
Finding Legislation (Bills, Laws & Regulations) & its Analysis – for Beginners
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.
Awareness of key legal instruments; awareness of how a Bill becomes a Law; where to look for the different parts of Law; and discovery of sources for legal commentary.
October 9, 3 pm - Register here
October 16, 10 am – Register here
October 28, 1 pm – Register here
Finding Government (Public) Policy & its Analysis
Learn strategies for finding “policy documents”, the steps that led to their creation, a few ways for finding policy analysis, and how you might consider the merits of these arguments.
Awareness of what "public policy" can constitute; ideas on how to strategize your searches for finding "policy documents"; tactics for finding the background information to the policy at hand; and strategies for looking for and evaluating policy analysis.
October 7, 1:30 pm – Register here
October 15, 10 am – Register here
October 25, 2:30 pm – Register here
Systematically searching the medical literature
Learn how to build an effective, comprehensive search in medical databases. This session is especially useful for people interested in systematic or scoping reviews. Reviews of the medical literature need to be rigorous to ensure that all relevant research is found and that the resulting recommendations are evidence-based. This requires a more structured and systematic form of search development than we use in many other contexts. In this session, we will review the steps required to build a systematic search along with some tips and tricks to make this process more effective. This workshop is not database specific but will instead focus on guidelines and principles that can be applied to searches in many medical databases, such as PubMed, CINAHL or PsycINFO.
By the end of the workshop, you'll be able to: Define systematic searching in a health context, Plan a search using PICO(T) or similar, Incorporate subject headings and keywords in your search, Describe the process for translating a search to a different database, Create a validation set to test your search
October 3, 10 am – Register here
Finding Legislation (Bills, Laws & Regulations) & its Analysis – for Beginners
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.
Awareness of key legal instruments; awareness of how a Bill becomes a Law; where to look for the different parts of Law; and discovery of sources for legal commentary.
November 1, 9 am – Register here
November 15, 2 pm – Register here
November 19, 10 am - Register here
November 26, 3 pm - Register here
Finding Government (Public) Policy & its Analysis
Learn strategies for finding “policy documents”, the steps that led to their creation, a few ways for finding policy analysis, and how you might consider the merits of these arguments.
Awareness of what "public policy" can constitute; ideas on how to strategize your searches for finding "policy documents"; tactics for finding the background information to the policy at hand; and strategies for looking for and evaluating policy analysis.
November 1, 9 am – Register here
November 13, 3 pm – Register here
November 25, 10 am - Register here
Using Covidence for screening and data extraction
Learn how to use Covidence for systematic reviews. 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.
By the end of the workshop, you'll be able to: Set up an account in Covidence, Import references and remove duplicates, Reduce bias and assess interrater reliability during screening, Build a data extraction table.
November 6, 11 am – Register here
Mendeley: A free tool to manage your citations
Thesis, dissertation, or capstone project, this tool will save you time. Please note: a workshop about Zotero is also available. If you’re unsure which tool to use, it helps to ask a professor or student in your program what they use. Questions? libcitations@wlu.ca
January 14, 1pm – Register here
Introduction to Web Archives
Are you interested in examining websites as primary source material? Learn what web archives are, where to access them, what tools are available to analyze web archives, and how these resources can be used in research.
Define web archives, identify the benefits of using web archives in research, and find and evaluate web archives
February 2, 2 pm – register here
Mendeley: A free tool to manage your citations
Thesis, dissertation, or capstone project, this tool will save you time. Please note: a workshop about Zotero is also available. If you’re unsure which tool to use, it helps to ask a professor or student in your program what they use. Questions? libcitations@wlu.ca
February 12, 10 am – Register here
Zotero: A free tool to manage your citations
Use Zotero to streamline how you collect sources and create bibliographies. If you’re doing a research assignment, thesis, dissertation, or capstone project, this tool will save you time. Please note: a workshop about Mendeley is also available. If you’re unsure which tool to use, it helps to ask a professor or student in your program what they use
February 5, 10:00 am - 11:00 am – Register here
February 13, 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm – Register here
