For 10 weeks, 10 women from across the globe met at the Leddy Library for their weekly Shoe Project workshop, a program designed to help newcomer women improve their language and communication skills through writing and public speaking. These women are now preparing to take the stage for the official Shoe Project performance.

The program began with a 10-week writing seminar facilitated by Leddy librarian and award-winning writer Heidi Jacobs.

“My role as their mentor was to lead them through weekly creative writing sessions to help them discover and craft a story about their individual journeys to Canada, with one caveat,” said Dr. Jacobs. “The story must use a pair of shoes as the focus, as the Shoe Project believes that shoes are a metaphor for journey and transformation, and this is certainly the case for our 10 writers.”

Jacobs, whose debut novel Molly of the Mall: Literary Lass and Purveyor of Fine Footwear won the 2020 Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour, was thrilled to join the initiative.

“It was such an amazing experience to meet and work with these women on their writing. I loved watching them make friends, share their stories, support each other, and leave a little stronger each week,” she said. “I think people will be very excited by what they hear at the event.”

After the writing sessions wrapped up, participants were then paired with School of Dramatic Art professor Alice Nelson to begin meeting for one-on-one theatre performance coaching sessions.

“I had a wonderful time mentoring the participants as their performance coach,” said Nelson. “I was able to work with them individually and help them lift their story off the page and bring it to life through vocal work and performance skills.”

The final product, a performance, will now be showcased to the public. On Sunday, Feb. 26, the women from Nigeria, United Arab Emirates, China, Nepal, Sudan, and Ukraine will share their stories of immigration and adaptation to Canada on stage at the Capitol Theatre. Find performance and ticket details on the theatre website.

“The Shoe Project has been a rewarding experience; it has been wonderful to witness the women grow in their confidence to share their stories,” added Nelson. “I’m looking forward to the moment when they take the stage and share with an audience.”

Founded in 2011, the Shoe Project now has workshops in 10 cities across Canada and has worked with more than 250 newcomer women originally coming from 62 countries and regions.

Learn more about the Shoe Project on its website.

—Marcie Demmans

Family Day is being reimagined as Family in Motion Day across Windsor and Essex County with the Toldo Lancer Centre and other recreation facilities across the region opening their doors for free physical activity.

Families are invited to visit the Toldo Lancer Centre on Monday for table tennis or basketball from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., pickleball from 7 to 11:30 a.m., volleyball from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., badminton from noon to 3 p.m., or a family swim from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m.

“We know that when families take part in physical activities together, they develop strong emotional bonds and set up habits for healthy living,” said Sandra Ondracka, Lancer Recreation co-ordinator. “Family in Motion Day is a wonderful community initiative that we are pleased to be supporting.”

Family in Motion Day is being made possible by 15 local organizations, including municipalities and community groups that support healthy living.

Follow this link for a full listing of Family in Motion Day offerings across Windsor and Essex County.

—Sarah Sacheli

A one-hour drop-in workshop will explore the Underground Railroad and Black history in the context of Windsor and surrounding areas on Thursday, March 2.

Presented by the Windsor Underground Railroad Initiative (WURI), the free public session will focus on why and how to teach about these topics in engaging ways from kindergarten through to Grade 12.

Through interactive information booths, teacher candidates will share a range of resources with attendees to encourage them to bring contemporary issues related to social justice and the local Black community and its history into their teaching and learning.

It’s part of a service-learning course conceptualized by education professor Susan M. Holloway.

“Windsor, Essex County, Amherstburg, Chatham, Buxton and surrounding areas were some of the most important geo-political sites of the Underground Railway,” Dr. Holloway says. “Freedom seekers crossing from the States found their first point of entry into Canada in many instances through the Detroit border areas.”

To provide experiential learning and connect the future educators to community partners, the course featured field trips to the John Freeman Walls Historic Site, Amherstburg Freedom Museum, Buxton Museum, Sandwich First Baptist Church, and the Leddy Library Archives, with plans for a walking tour through the McDougall Street Corridor.

The students also discussed culturally responsive pedagogy, critical race theory, critical literacy, strength-based learning, diaspora, white privilege, being an ally, anti-racist strategies, and other concepts and issues pertinent to education.

“These teacher candidates are about to start out on their own careers and can play an important role in shaping curriculum and community partnerships in the years to come, and to build upon what local school boards are already doing,” says Holloway.

She expresses appreciation for the support of partners in the Faculty of Education, the local community, and the Office of the Vice-President, Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion.

The workshop is open to all from 4 to 5 p.m. March 2 in the Leonard and Dorothy Neal Education Building.

Users are asked to take final steps to prepare for the Blackboard Learning Management System retirement as the last day to access the system is April 27.

Check all migrated materials

Review all course and organization site material that has been migrated from Blackboard to Brightspace, including course material you are not currently using this semester. While Blackboard is still available, you can review migrated material against the original Blackboard material to check for discrepancies — after April 27 that will not be possible.

Download and save any desired student work

Since no student work has been migrated from Blackboard to Brightspace, download and save any student material, such as assessment exemplars, documents to support reference letters, discussions, or spreadsheet of grades, that you want to access in the future. Instructions can be found for bulk downloading assignments, discussions, and grades on the Instructors FAQ page. Although all course material will be archived by Information Technology Services in case of an appeal, it will not be easy to access.

Review organization sites

Blackboard organization site owners are asked to review their Blackboard organization sites for content they would like to migrate to Brightspace. If migration is needed, they can submit a ticket with the site name and the organization site users list they want to transition to Brightspace by March 1.

It is important to note that migration includes only materials added by the organizers and will not include assessment submissions or discussions within the organizational site. For instructions for downloading discussion post, see the How to download BB Discussion posts on the Instructor FAQs page.

Save Winter 2023 collaborate recordings

Instructors who have continued to use Blackboard Collaborate in the Winter semester will have to manually download any recordings they wish to keep and save them to their OneDrive or Yuja media platform. Instructions for saving them to Yuja can be found in the Instructor How to Section of uwindsor.ca/brightspace.

Help available

One-on-one support through in-person and online Brightspace drop-in sessions is available Monday through Friday (except holidays such as Family Day Feb. 20, and the University holiday Feb. 24), 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., at the CTL offices and virtually through Microsoft Teams. Any questions can be emailed to brightspace@uwindsor.ca.

Blackboard and all material contained within it will be inaccessible after April 27, 2023.

To improve security Microsoft is rolling out an added layer of authentication -- a number-matching security feature – which will be a default security feature.

Microsoft will deploy the update starting Feb. 27 across organizations globally. Those using the Microsoft Authenticator app or who want to start using the number-matching security feature need to install the latest version of the application. The Apple Watch Microsoft Authentication app does not currently support number matching.

Authentication number matching is being added to avoid accidental account access approvals and protect against Multi-Factor Authentication fatigue attacks, whereby online attackers repeatedly bombard an individual with account access requests after the hacker has gained their password. Users will see a map image with the location of the sign-in and can insert the given number and tap “Yes” to go ahead with authentication or decline the request by selecting “No, it’s not me.”

Stephen Karamatos, manager of technology and innovation in Information Technology Services, encourages members of the campus community to use the Microsoft Authenticator app as their preferred second factor method.

“This change may even be quicker for some to enter the two-digits rather than waiting for a call or message and then imputing the six digits from that message,” he says.

If you have a problem with your UWin Account after the number matching roll out, submit a ticket with the IT Service Desk.

The Student Awards and Financial Aid Office is encouraging students to revisit their award profiles in UWinsite Student. Several awards that previously had a deadline of Jan. 31 have been extended to March 5.

Drop-in sessions will also be available for students needing assistance with completing their award profile. The dates of drop-in sessions can be found here.

The biennial election for the board of the Organization of Part-time University Students is now underway.

Nominations closed Feb. 10 and the campaign period runs through Feb. 17. Balloting will take place March 7 and 8. Part-time undergraduate students are eligible to vote.

For more info, visit www.uwindsor.ca/opus/elections.

A presentation today will help faculty and staff better understand the culture of students coming from China.

Shuzhen Zhao, head of acquisitions and bibliographic services for the Leddy Library, will discuss the history, customs, languages, and cuisines of China at noon Feb. 16 in the International Student Centre on the second floor of Laurier Hall.

Its part of the ISC Culture Series, which will continue with discussion of India on March 21, and Indigenous cultures with the date to be determined. Sign up to express interest and receive an email reminder.

DailyNews, the University of Windsor’s e-newsletter, will publish just one edition during Reading Week.

Its sole publication will come out Tuesday, Feb. 21, resuming a daily schedule Feb. 27.