Gavan Watson

@[email protected]
199 Followers
227 Following
76 Posts
Found posting about #teaching & #learning in #highered and the #nature around me. Dad; Vice Provost, Teaching & Learning, Queen’s University; Associate Professor, Faculty of Education. PhD in environmental education. Pronouns: he/him. 

Ideas and opinions expressed here are mine alone.
ORCIDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-0397-2334
Websitehttps://www.gavan.ca/
Gavan WatsonDec 30, 2023
Surprised to still find this local Merlin this morning; I would have expected it to have left for warmer climes—I didn’t think Eastern Canada Merlins were non-migratory. Perhaps the winter has been mild enough to stick around.
Gavan WatsonNov 19, 2023
Connect 4? I’m more of a Connecting Game kind of guy myself…
Gavan WatsonAug 29, 2023
With today’s Teaching Development Conference at #QueensU, it really does feel like the official start of the academic new year—so, Happy New Year!
Gavan WatsonAug 1, 2023

On leave this week, so took the opportunity to visit the Kingston Field Naturalists’ Helen Quilliam Sanctuary with my dad this afternoon (who is in town for a visit).

Highlight of the trip was finding this Grey Ratsnake. I learned that there is a contiguous population of these snakes in Eastern Ontario, with a concentration just North of Kingston.

Gavan WatsonJan 27, 2023
Got a text from a fellow parent—a warm fuzzy sharing with me what a great kid my eldest is. Honestly, it was the best thing that's happened to me this year. Parenthood is so often a task with no, or negative, feedback, it's so nice to hear when your kids are doing things right.
Gavan WatsonJan 25, 2023

Quick summary to @[email protected]'s approach to A.I.: be transparent in your use of #ChatGPT (i.e., include in methods).

Curiously, it can't be a co-author because AI tools can't be accountability for the work. Notice how it isn't described as plagiarism, though?
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-00191-1

Tools such as ChatGPT threaten transparent science; here are our ground rules for their use

As researchers dive into the brave new world of advanced AI chatbots, publishers need to acknowledge their legitimate uses and lay down clear guidelines to avoid abuse.

Gavan WatsonJan 24, 2023
Always suspicious when wine gums don’t require the bite strength of a nile crocodile to chew…are these even real?
Gavan WatsonJan 24, 2023
It’s the small things: like this poster outside @[email protected]’ Dr. Kelly Shorlin’s office. Imagine your relief if you’re wayfinding your way through the Chemistry and Physics building and find this help.
Gavan WatsonJan 24, 2023

To every citizen of St. John’s playing the “will it melt today” game, I salute you.

I’m currently sizing up the heavy and wet windrow of snow at the end of the driveway (that I’d rather not have to shovel myself). #nlwx

Gavan WatsonJan 24, 2023
This morning’s conspiracy theory straight from the 8 year old’s classroom: construction paper is made out of “elephant poo.”