Agenda

University of Toronto’s Teaching and Learning Symposium
Teaching and Learning for Human Flourishing

May 12 (online) and May 13 (Myhal Centre, 55 St. George Street)

Day 1: May 12, 2025 (online)

9am-10:45am: Welcome and Opening Plenary

Welcome by President Meric Gertler

Opening Plenary: Three Reflections on Learning, Leading, and Thriving 

Presenters 
Bob Gibbs, Vice-Principal, University College, Office of the Principal and Professor, Philosophy and Religion, Faculty of Arts & Science 
Aarthi Ashok, Professor, Teaching Stream, Biological Sciences and Special Advisor on Teaching Stream Faculty Success, UTSC
S. Trimble, Undergraduate Coordinator, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Women & Gender Studies Institute, Faculty of Arts & Science 

Moderator 
Keith Adamson, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, and Deputy Director, Centre for Teaching Support & Innovation 

Description to come.

11am-12pm: Concurrent Sessions 1

1.1 Teaching Dialogue: Fear and Loathing in the Classroom: student voices from the Provost’s Working Group on Civil Discourse 

Alison Thompson, Associate Professor, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, Nasim Niknafs, Associate Dean, Research; Associate Professor, Music Education, Faculty of Music 

Student Members of the Provost’s Working Group on Civil Discourse: Lydia Dillenbeck, Undergraduate Student, Haidy Giratallah, Recent Graduate Student, Hugh Considine, Undergraduate Student, Valentina Bravo, Graduate Student 

In this session, student members of the Provost’s Working Group on Civil Discourse explore the student experience of classroom discourse including how they perceive risk, power dynamics, and social pressures when participating in discussion-based learning. This conversation will center student experiences and ask: How can we better support students in engaging with difficult ideas, listening with curiosity, and speaking without fear?    

Students often hesitate to engage in open, exploratory discussions, fearing judgment, misinterpretation, or social consequences. Many feel they are not truly free to “think out loud, together” in the classroom, leading to a learning dilemma: how can students develop critical thinking and communication skills when they feel constrained in what they can say or how they can engage? 

In this student-led, story-sharing session, students will recount real classroom experiences where civil discourse worked well or failed, highlighting the factors that influenced these outcomes. Through guided reflection and faculty- moderator insights, we will explore: 

• What makes a discussion feel productive, and engaging? 
• What discourages participation in constructive discourse? 
• How can faculty foster conditions where students can “think out loud” together? 

Audience members will be invited to contribute observations, ask questions, and suggest approaches for improving classroom discussions. By the end of the session, participants will leave with student-informed strategies to promote inclusive, curiosity-driven, and respectful civil discourse. 

This session provides an opportunity for faculty to listen directly to student perspectives, reflect on their own practices, and co-create solutions to one of the most pressing challenges on campus today. 

1.2 Inquiry on Teaching and Learning 1 

1.2.1 Translanguaging as Learning Strategy: Moving Beyond “English-only”
Yaseen Ali, Learning Strategist, Learning Strategist, Intercultural & Community Learning, Centre for Learning Strategy Support (CLSS), Division of Student Life 

“Translanguaging” refers to multilingual users’ transcendence over the boundaries historically maintained between socially constructed language systems (Otheguy et al., 2015). This dynamic practice can include moving across “named languages” (e.g., French, Japanese, Urdu) and leveraging environmental materials (e.g., writing instruments, assistive technologies, semiotic resources) to express ideas. This session provides findings from a study examining the language frames (i.e., beliefs and attitudes) of 22 graduate students who identify as English as an additional language users (EAL). Over the course of a semester, the participants attended a critical language awareness workshop about “Englishing” (a translingual language practice), generated learning artifacts, and committed to applying translanguaging strategies in their university activities. 

In their responses, participants described how employing languages beyond academic or standard(ized) English alone offered them a conduit to effective learning strategies such as dual coding, self-testing, and elaboration. For example, students shared how notetaking in multiple languages supported additional ways to retrieve information in high stakes situations. They also discussed how explaining course content in their first language(s) allowed them to isolate any gaps in their understanding. What emerges from these reflections is how translanguaging is not a “compensation” strategy suggesting limited English language proficiency, but a rich and abundant repertoire for EAL students’ study techniques. Translanguaging then presents a powerful rejoinder to “English-only” paradigms in teaching and learning, facilitating students’ trans-epistemic access to knowledge (Qiu & Zheng, 2024). The session will include reflective questions and follow-up resources to consider how Englishing can be encouraged in course activities and assignments. 

1.2.2 Thriving in Research: Building Community and Confidence in Life Science Undergraduates
Jastaran Singh, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Department of Immunology, Colleen Dockstader, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Human Biology Program 

Undergraduate thesis projects provide a foray into research, yet most students cannot experience one due to time/financial constraints. For five years, The Human Biology Program at the University of Toronto has offered a free, two-week ‘Lab Bootcamp’ for over 250 life science undergraduates. This program, which doesn’t require prior research experience or grades assessment, aims to empower students through agency and collaboration.  

Leading with Purpose: The Bootcamp blends pedagogical theory with research practice where students complete an 80-hour project involving molecular cloning and protein assays, designing strategies to modify protein expression in a mouse model. Through this, students develop essential technical, communicative, and collaborative skills essential for thriving in research and beyond.  

Learning through Inquiry: In groups, students critically address research design and knowledge gaps, fostering confidence and resilience through an inquiry-based approach where student agency is emphasized and ‘failed’ experiments are normalized. Post-Bootcamp analyses show significant improvements in technical and critical-thinking skills, with the greatest impact on research confidence. 

Thriving in Community: The Bootcamp fosters a collaborative environment, emphasizing community and teamwork to help students build relationships that support their growth. Four months post-Bootcamp, many participants continued in research roles, demonstrating the program’s lasting impact on their academic/ professional trajectories.  Many Bootcamp participants remain in contact with one another, emphasizing the importance of belonging in research practices. 

The HMB Lab Bootcamp offers a no-cost, accessible, transformative experiential learning opportunity in research that equips students with essential skills and fosters a sense of community, confidence, and resilience. 

1.3 Spark and Idea 1: Teaching Strategies  

1.3.1 Indigenization of Environmental Science courses: Challenges and Insights from a Pedagogical Perspective
Tanzina Mohsin, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Physical and Environmental  

This session will present an Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) initiative focused on the Indigenization of Environmental Science courses. The integration of Indigenous Knowledge (IK) and perspectives remains significantly underrepresented in Environmental Sciences and related fields. To address this gap, experiential learning elements have been incorporated into climatology courses within the Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences at UTSC. These courses explore Indigenous Climate Change experiences through an applied pedagogical approach, introducing students to the impacts of climate on Indigenous communities and how future climate change may affect them. Two student-centered exercises have been designed to incorporate IK content into B- and D-level courses, providing students with opportunities to apply Indigenous Knowledge respectfully and meaningfully in the exchange of information between Environmental Scientists/Climatologists and Indigenous communities. An IK-based assignment, along with an exercise module, is designed to help students (B-level) explore and understand IK from an inquiry-based learning context. The lessons learned from the Indigenization process of these courses will be evaluated, and both challenges and insights will be shared during the session. The Indigenization approach has been further expanded to an upper-year course, enabling students (D-level) to describe the features of various knowledge sources, assess confidence levels, and understand the limitations of specific sources in their analyses. This educational seminar will address key ethical considerations in working across different knowledge systems, particularly in relation to Indigenous land use rights. Additionally, it will encourage participants to reflect on how they can decolonize their own teaching practices across disciplines. 

1.3.2 Reaching the Rest: Sustainability Education for All through the Pan-University Sustainability Pathways Program
Kristy Faccer, Director of Secretariat, Committee on the Environment, Climate Change, and Sustainability (CECCS), Ayako Ariga, Project Manager, CECCS 

This session will focus on how the Sustainability Pathways Program offers a unique teaching strategy at a macro level for U of T’s commitment to sustainability via student-centered approaches to transformative change. In particular, the university-wide program promotes interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary learning to help students understand the complexities of sustainability, merging knowledge and methods from multiple disciplines and encouraging collaboration across academic boundaries and with non-academic community partners. This approach equips students with the diverse skills needed to effectively tackle multifaceted sustainability issues, enhancing their ability to generate impactful solutions.      

Created by the U of T Committee on the Environment, Climate Change, and Sustainability (CECCS), the program encourages students to explore sustainability learning by becoming Sustainability Scholars, Citizens, and Leaders through a tiered framework of curricular, co-curricular, and capstone leadership training tiers, respectively. In this talk, participants will learn about our strategy for including non-traditional disciplines (“”reaching the rest,””), as well as our interdisciplinary pathways approach.  

Sustainability and climate change are defining issues of our time, and universities play a critical role in preparing the next generation of leaders. This session advances the broader TLS theme on human-centered learning via a focus on combining sustainability and pedagogy.   In collaboration with the broader community of practice of sustainability instructors, the CECCS has identified a set of working pedagogical principles which stress the human-centered approach in teaching, such as environmental justice, critical hope, and place-based learning, which will be refined and fed back into the curriculum. 

1.3.3 Introducing “PillPal”: Development and Use of a Virtual Tutor for Pharmacology courses
Michelle Arnot, Professor, Teaching Stream, Pharmacology & Toxicology, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Cordelia Shan, Academic, Research & Collaborative (ARC) technologies University of Toronto, Amani Najjar, 3rd year Pharmacology & Toxicology SPE student, Olivia Pulsifer, 3rd year Pharmacology & Toxicology student, Temerty Faculty of Medicine 

As part of a pilot project collaboration with ARC and CTSI, in summer 2024 teaching faculty and work-study students in the Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology began developing a virtual tutor.  This session will discuss the behind-the-scenes approach and Departmental efforts required to develop the virtual tutor, the challenges, learning and eventual success. We launched two virtual tutors for two distinct courses, the first in the fall in our PCL302H course and a second one in our PCL201H course. Our first pilot virtual tutor, used in PCL302H, had limited success with poor student uptake likely due to poor user experience. Adopting lessons learned from the first virtual tutor coupled with an increase in resourcing via additional work- study students involved with background work, iterative testing and training of the virtual tutor throughout the project, our second attempt in PCL201H has had much greater success regarding accuracy and student uptake.   

Students were provided with a CTSI resource on how to effectively “prompt” the tutor to be able to receive answers to content questions, integrative questions and develop practice exam questions. To promote student engagement, we held a vote to name the virtual tutor “PillPal”.  A student survey launched to gauge student experience and comfort level with the bot will also be included at the end of the term.  The virtual tutor is offered alongside the Discussion Board on Quercus, which is monitored weekly by Teaching Assistants (TAs).  

The integration of the virtual tutor is one aspect of how AI is being integrated into the Pharmacology teaching and learning practice. Improving students’ understanding of effective and critical thinking of AI content within the discipline and ways in which it may and may not be beneficial are also integrated across multiple courses, including the two courses that piloted the virtual tutor. 

1.4 Teaching Dialogue: Leveraging Contemplative Pedagogies to Thrive Academically, Professionally, and Beyond

Kathleen Scheaffer, Strategic Initiatives and Liaison Librarian, University of Toronto Mississauga, Paulina Rousseau, Liaison Librarian, University of Toronto Scarborough 

Faculty, librarians, staff, and students are increasingly expected to understand and integrate emerging technologies within our teaching, learning, and researching activities; however, the rate in which they emerge and evolve does not afford us the time to critically assess their educational, political, social, global, and environmental impacts. In an effort to facilitate and cultivate critical lenses, this community chat will encourage participants to share and explore contemplative pedagogies and practices. Through anti-oppressive and inclusive discourse, this session provides a venue for discussing how contemplative practices critical assessment tools can guide us in our decisions of whether to leverage or eschew emerging technology for academic, professional, and personal purposes. The discussions will around the following questions:  

• Which contemplative practices are being integrated into assignments, classrooms, and beyond to facilitate critical thinking and evaluation of emerging technologies? 
• What opportunities are there to integrate contemplation and reflection when it comes to AI, and how can it amplify personal engagement and deep learning?  
• How can we help our students to deepen their reflection to foster life-long learning on how the technologies incorporated into personal, professional, and academic settings have sociocultural, political, and environmental implications?  

Research and additional resources on contemplative pedagogies will be provided to all participants. 

12pm-12:45pm: Lunch/Break

12:45pm-1:45pm: Concurrent Sessions 2

2.1 Inquiry on Teaching and Learning 2

2.1.1 The Social Justice Classroom: Dismantling racism and Destabilizing Power Structures in Curriculum with Students as Partners
Leanne De Souza-Kenney, Assistant Professor, Global and Public Health in the Human Biology Program and Health Studies Program, Faculty of Arts & Science, Yuchen Jia, Undergraduate Research Student, Nutritional Science Department, Human Biology Department, Statistical Sciences Department 

This session explores the transformative potential of anti-racist, inclusive curriculum development using a students as partners (SaP) partnered approach. Rooted in social justice principles, this project highlights how co-creating curriculum with students can dismantle systemic inequities and foster empowered learning environments. By engaging diverse voices, from students with different backgrounds to BIPOC experts in public and global health from the U of T and the surrounding community, we showcase how inclusive learning pedagogy strengthens representation, promotes equity, and enhances critical thinking and self-reflection skills. 

In an era marked by global poly-crisis, there is a critical need to address systemic inequities within educational systems. We welcome diverse participants from administration, staff, and faculty to engage in this session that explores practical approaches to integrating interactive and experiential learning activities in the classroom. We provide a case study of our project that involved a SaP approach to curriculum design and co-creation. Students engaged in various activities, from reflective practice, to roundtable discussions and immersive community-based projects, to foster critical thinking and social justice awareness, as they co-produced an anti-racist curriculum. Student feedback underscores the importance of empowering student voice in coursework and offering tangible engagement toward deliverables that foster critical awareness of social justice issues. Students reported growth in their academic development and skills-based competencies, and increased confidence to voice perspectives that challenge structural inequities within and beyond education settings.  

This session is designed to foster inclusive, thought-provoking, examination of anti-racist pedagogical approaches using SaP as a tool for equitable human flourishing. 

2.1.2 Reimagining Learning Spaces: How Classroom Design Affects Student Engagement and Participation
Karen McCrindle, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Centre for Teaching and Learning/Dept. of Language Studies, University of Toronto Scarborough Campus, Safieh Moghaddam, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Department of Language Studies, UTSC 

Classroom design can significantly impact how students engage, participate, and connect with course material (Beichner, 2014) and a comfortable environment can help to minimize distractions that may hinder learning (Herman Miller, 2008). Previous research has shown that Active Learning Classroom (ALC) designs are more effective than traditional classrooms in fostering student engagement (Zimmermann et al., 2018) and supporting collaborative learning activities (Clinton & Wilson, 2019). The newly-opened Sam Ibrahim Building at the University of Toronto Scarborough features 21 active learning spaces, including a 500-seat ‘circle in the round’ classroom. The building design supports activity-based, socially-engaged and peer-to-peer learning in active learning classrooms and informal collaboration spaces of varied sizes. We will discuss how the shift from traditional spaces to active learning classrooms can energize instructors and influence student interaction, motivation, participation, accessibility and overall learning. We will argue that, unlike standard setups, where students have limited opportunities to interact with their peers, ALCs and upgraded technology increase proximity and access to the instructor and fellow students. By collecting reflections and feedback from students and instructors, we explore how factors such as seating arrangements, lighting, and technology affect students’ sense of connection and belonging, their willingness to participate, and their ability to stay engaged. We will highlight preliminary findings, share best practices for creating an engaging and inclusive classroom environment, and discuss how classroom design can help students thrive. By rethinking classroom design, we can create environments that promote connection, collaboration and deeper learning. 

2.2 Spark and Idea 2: Teaching Strategies 

2.2.1 A Just-In-Time, Blended Approach to Prerequisite Review
Lisa Zhang, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Mathematical and Computational Sciences, University of Toronto Mississauga, Alice Gao, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Computer Science, Faculty of Arts & Science  

Many upper-year courses have prerequisites, but students often struggle to retain prerequisite knowledge, e.g., due to gaps in time and difficulty transferring knowledge to new contexts. While prerequisite review is a well-established educational practice, we believe that its timing, modality, and level of support help ensure that no one is left behind. 

Thus, this session describes a teaching strategy used in our third-year machine learning courses at UTM/UTSG to aid in prerequisite review. The timing of the review is “just-in-time” in that specific prerequisite content is timed with each new lecture/module. The modality of the review is online asynchronous, where we ask students to complete 2-4 multiple-choice questions in the week prior to each synchronous lecture. Crucially, each question is accompanied by a short instructional video, allowing students to tailor their engagement based on their needs. Each video includes: (1) an explanation of the multiple-choice question, helping students transfer knowledge to the course context (e.g., understanding new mathematical notation), (2) a conceptual review of the key prerequisite concepts, (3) a worked example of a similar question. This flexible format respects students’ time, allowing them to skip sections as needed. 

This session will discuss our implementations of this strategy and student reception, which have been overwhelmingly positive. For example, students said that the resources “gave me more confidence in knowing that I will learn the material that is taught in class”, “allows me to quickly review knowledge faster”, and “made the lecture content less intimidating”. 

2.2.2 Supporting Students with Navigating Academic Dialogue
Reshma Dhrodia, Administrative Staff, Faculty of Music, Ely Lyonblum, Strategic Research Development Officer, Faculty of Music  

A core tenet of higher education is the freedom to express and discuss views informed by research across disciplines, often revealing divergent sociopolitical viewpoints. Last year, a Civil Discourse Working Group was formed to support the university in fostering an environment for robust dialogue, academic curiosity, and civil engagement on difficult questions. 

In response, the Research and EDI offices at the Faculty of Music designed a pilot workshop for students: Navigating Academic Dialogue. This workshop aims to support our communities in discussing sensitive and challenging issues, aligning with the university’s goal to build capacity for civil discourse and our faculty’s commitment to its Values and Community Guidelines. 

Academic dialogue in Music communities extends beyond the classroom into theatres, performance after-spaces (bars/restaurants), and social media. Our students navigate intimate relationships in various settings: 1-1 lessons, large choral communities, and small and big ensembles. At this critical juncture, it is imperative to help students engage in civil discourse outside conventional spaces, introducing tools for individual skill-building to foster sustained, engaged, and empowered communities where people feel welcomed through and despite difference. 

Offered twice this academic year to graduate students, the workshop provided an opportunity to think and learn about the evolving interdisciplinary field of Music Studies, various spaces where academic dialogue occurs, university guidelines on expression and conduct, professionalism, leadership, managing differences, and constructive dialogue skills. The workshop included two case scenarios unique to Music Studies, inviting personal reflection and group discussion on addressing and moving through difficult moments. 

2.2.3 Hundreds of Warnings in Accessibility Checkers! How can ChatGPT and 3D Printing Help?
Tingting Zhu, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Geography, Geomatics and Environment & Mathematical and Computational Sciences, Mike Serafin, Library Technologies & Liaison Librarian, Daniel Zingaro, Mathematical and Computational Sciences, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Andrew Petersen, Mathematical and Computational Sciences, Professor, Teaching Stream, University of Toronto Mississauga 

In courses that rely heavily on visual content (e.g., diagrams, images, mathematical expressions) ensuring accessibility for blind students presents a significant challenge. This presentation introduces a strategy that integrates ChatGPT and 3D printing to transform traditional teaching materials into accessible formats. By leveraging AI for automated content conversion and 3D printing for integrating multisensory learning, educators can create a more inclusive learning environment. This approach has successfully provided blind students with alternative ways to engage with course content both in and outside of a graph-heavy computer science classroom. Participants will learn practical methods for automating creation of alt text using ChatGPT and designing 3D printing materials to make diagrams tangible. Beyond sharing successful approaches, the presenters will also discuss the wrong turns and key lessons learned through the discovery experience. These insights will help educators anticipate challenges and refine the approaches prior to implementation in their own classroom. 

2.3 Teaching Dialogue: Roadmap and Reflections on Expanding Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, Indigeneity, and Accessibility (EDIIA) in Curricula

Gurnit Kaur, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Pharmacology and Toxicology, Michelle Arnot, Professor, Teaching Stream & Associate Chair, Undergraduate Education, Pharmacology and Toxicology, Raveen Christian Joy Rajakumar, Graduate Student, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Temerty Faculty of Medicine 

Nurturing learning systems that are respectful and welcoming to diverse individuals is a step towards improving the experience of all students. This roundtable discussion will focus on strategies to re-evaluate the undergraduate curriculum with a critical lens towards the incorporation of content that is Equitable, Diverse, Inclusive, acknowledges Indigeneity, and is Accessible (EDIIA). We will share how a curriculum mapping approach examined the undergraduate Pharmacology and Toxicology curriculum to identify EDIIA gaps and areas for improvement and targeted means for implementation.  We will discuss our experience and share key learnings from this approach.  

Discussions will center around who the key stakeholders are in improving EDIIA integration, what barriers exist to implementation of EDIIA recommendations, and possible solutions to alleviating these barriers. This roundtable discussion will encourage participants to explore opportunities for EDIIA integration within their undergraduate curriculum with the goal of strengthening the existing curriculum and improving the student learning experience. 

2.4 Spark an Idea 3: Nifty Assessments  

2.4.1 Developing Students’ Economics Writing Skills through Scaffolded AI-Assisted Feedback
Nazanin Khazra, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Economics, Faculty of Arts & Science, Victoria Sheldon, Faculty Liaison Coordinator, Generative AI Pedagogies, Centre for Teaching Support & Innovation  

This session introduces an innovative assessment method for a Microeconomics theory course (ECO200) that combines economic analysis with reflective writing, supported by critically engaging with AI-assisted feedback. The assessment includes pre-exam preparation, a pre-test assignment with reflection on AI feedback, and an in-person writing exam on real-world economic scenarios. This approach leverages generative AI to provide personalized feedback on students’ pre-exam essays, with the aim of supporting their ability to articulate complex economic concepts in writing. In addition, the multi-layered approach to this assessment guides students to become self-directed learners, nurturing their critical thinking, AI literacy, and metacognitive skill development. By encouraging students to confront and learn from their mistakes, this scaffolded, reflective approach supports their growth through the challenges of writing, transforming potential discomfort into an opportunity for learning.   

The structure of the assessment aims to address the challenge of balancing quantitative skills (derivatives and equation-solving) with qualitative analysis in economics education. The in-person portion of the writing assessment focuses on real-world economic issues such as food deserts and market competition. By incorporating metacognitive reflection on AI-assisted writing feedback, this formative assessment aims to improve students’ economic writing skills, critical thinking, and ability to apply theoretical concepts to practical scenarios.   

*** Structured as a dialogue, this session will reflect on the pedagogical impacts of this innovative assessment approach and explore the role of developing inclusive assessments with generative AI in mind, particularly in the context of economics education. *** 

2.4.2 Leveraging artificial intelligence: Using ChatGPT to develop clinically relevant case studies for student assessments
Emily Wood, Course Instructor (CUPE 3902, Unit 1), Speech-Language Pathology, Rehabilitation Sciences Institute  

Case studies are a dynamic teaching and assessment tool, enabling students to integrate theoretical knowledge, develop critical reasoning skills, and apply their learning to realistic scenarios. However, developing case studies can be time-intensive and challenging. Educators often face obstacles such as privacy risks associated with collecting and sharing personal information and sourcing cases that align with specific learning objectives that reflect the diverse experiences of their students.   

This session introduces educators to using Microsoft Copilot as a practical solution for generating customized, contextually rich case studies for student assessment. Attendees will learn how AI chatbots like Copilot can be used to quickly create realistic and relevant cases tailored to assessing specific learning objectives while maintaining ethical considerations and avoiding privacy concerns.   

A structured, six-step approach to developing effective prompts for generating case studies will be presented. These steps include (i) characterizing the target audience, (ii) setting case and assessment parameters, (iii) describing particularities of the case, (iv) defining student skills and abilities to be assessed, (v) integrating this information into a concise prompt, and (vi) revising the generated case for relevance, appropriateness and accuracy. A live demonstration will walk attendees through these steps, allowing them to see how to refine prompts and adapt outputs to suit their students’ needs.  We will also briefly discuss critical AI literacy and some potential issues with AI-generated cases and how these can be mitigated. 

Following the session, participants will be able to outline and apply these steps to create tailored case studies. They will also develop the ability to analyze how written prompts impact the quality of cases, empowering them to produce diverse, relevant, and robust cases. 

2.4.3 Advocacy in Action: A Scaffolded Assessment for Civic Engagement
Ashley Waggoner Denton, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Psychology, Faculty of Arts & Science  

How can we help students move beyond theoretical learning to take meaningful action on societal issues? This session presents a multi-stage advocacy assessment that empowers students to apply psychological principles to real-world challenges. Through researching a social issue, analyzing existing advocacy efforts, crafting an issue brief, and writing a persuasive letter to a policymaker, students develop essential skills in evidence-based communication, policy analysis, and civic engagement. 

Designed for a community psychology course, this assignment fosters critical thinking, professional writing, and real-world impact. Students not only gain a deeper understanding of pressing social issues but also build confidence in their ability to advocate for change. This session will outline the structure and intended outcomes of the assessment, highlight student responses, and discuss how advocacy-based assignments can be integrated into different teaching contexts. Links to resources will be provided. A brief Q&A will allow participants to explore practical applications in their own courses. 

2pm-3pm: Concurrent Sessions 3

3.1 Spark an Idea 4: Teaching Strategies  

3.1.1 Against All Odds: The Sandbox’s Asynchronous Collaboration across Disciplines
William Ryan, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Psychology, Steven Coyne, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Philosophy/Computer Science, Faculty of Arts & Science  

What does meaningful collaboration across courses look like? What if the courses are different sizes, at different times, from different disciplines, and the students are completing different assignments? In this short session, we describe an approach we piloted to facilitate asynchronous collaboration across philosophy and psychology courses as part of The Sandbox multidisciplinary experiential learning initiative. As part of the course, students from both courses worked on projects for UNICEF. Philosophy students explored ethical implications of using, deleting, and relying upon data to track families and children. Psychology students applied research on organizational culture, leadership, employee motivation, and resistance to change to consider how UNICEF could promote and ensure adherence to best practices in data security within the organization.   

This year, we piloted the use of class time to create feedback groups, providing students with prompts to guide their feedback and questions for students as they reviewed drafts from the complementary course. The term culminated in a showcase which integrated proposals from both the philosophy and psychology courses, bringing them together to present to UNICEF. In this ‘Spark and Idea’ session we will discuss what worked well, how we might improve our approach to asynchronous collaboration in future and lead a discussion about what contexts facilitate collaboration across the disciplines. 

3.1.2 Promoting personal growth and career readiness: weaving scaffolded Experiential and Work Integrated Learning opportunities throughout the curriculum
Naomi Levy-Strumpf, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Human Biology Program, Faculty of Arts & Science  

Situating students’ learning in real-world environments offers unique learning opportunities that cannot be replicated in a classroom setting. It provides meaningful experiences, allowing students to apply their knowledge, adapt to dynamic environments, and gain valuable insights. In this session I will present a scaffolded Experiential Learning (EL) and Work Integrated Learning (WIL) framework, which involves a sequential progression in both extent and intensity. This framework gradually prepares undergraduate students to apply academic learning in a professional setting. Experiential learning opportunities are introduced early and integrated throughout the program, culminating in a full-year internship course within the biotech industry. Beyond developing career-ready professional skills, this approach emphasizes the importance of learning, fostering motivation and inspiration, and shifting students’ focus from grades to the intrinsic value of education. The impact of this scaffolded EL and WIL framework on student perception and personal growth will also be discussed. Additionally, participants will learn how to implement a similar framework in their own teaching contexts and explore ways to engage WIL or EL in their courses. 

3.1.3 Transforming Anatomy Learning: AI Chatbots and Formative Assessments in a Flipped Classroom
Emily Ho, Assistant Professor, Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, Jessica Melong, HBSc, MScOT Student, Student Occupational Therapist, Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, Anne Hunt, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Vice Chair Education, Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, Temerty Faculty of Medicine 

This session will discuss the integration of an anatomy artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot with formative assessments in a flipped classroom to optimize student learning processes and outcomes. Listening to student feedback and understanding their perceptions of bot usability will be highlighted as important factors in effectively and ethically implementing this new technology. 

A course-specific AI chatbot was implemented to support anatomy education of Occupational Therapy students. After a trial period, the bot was underutilized for conceptual learning, but had high usage for evaluation-based inquiries, especially before midterms. Students expressed apprehension in using the bot as a virtual tutor due to its potential negative effect on their learning processes, and because its use contradicted previous rules regarding AI in academic settings. AI chatbot implementation was re-designed to facilitate learning and unlearning of AI assumptions in both educators and students. Instructors assumed that students would readily adopt AI for real-time assistance with conceptual learning; however, students needed guidance on bot use within the course setting. Students had to unlearn habits formed from using open-source chatbots and learn to critically appraise course-specific bot responses. Integrating bot use with formative assessments using case-based learning in a flipped classroom fostered a critical approach and improved student usage of the bot for conceptual learning. With greater recognition and appraisal of bot inaccuracies during formative assessment exercises, students reported viewing the bot as a ‘peer’ rather than an ‘authoritative source.’ This change in perspective fostered use of the AI chatbot to support critical thinking during the learning process. 

3.2 Inquiry on Teaching and Learning 3 

3.2.1 Our Journey to “Noor’s Journey”: Documenting our multi-year process of flourishing while creating a learning game focused on diversity, resiliency, and empowerment
Kosha Bramesfeld, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Psychology, University of Toronto Scarborough Campus, Denise Ysabel Silva, Project Manager, Authentic Learning Lab, Master of Social Work Student (Combined Degree HBSc & MSW), Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work  

Learning games provide an effective tool for teaching about complex social issues (Bramesfeld & Good, 2016). The creation of these games can also create high-impact experiential learning opportunities for students across a range of disciplines (Burling et al., 2020). But engaging students in cross-disciplinary research and development teams can create unique training, mentoring, and coordination challenges (Burling et al., 2020; McKerlie et al., 2018; Woolmer et al., 2016).  

In this presentation, we present an organizational framework that the Authentic Learning Lab (ALL) has developed to sustain a flourishing multi-year, multi-disciplinary, and multi-campus project focused on developing The Game of Social Life: Journeys. The game uses an interactive-narrative approach to teach about equity, diversity, and inclusion from an intersectional lens. Our framework for developing and evaluating the game has been informed by a participatory research design, in which undergraduate students have been engaged as researchers, project leaders, and participants at every stage of the game development process, from inception, to creation, to evaluation. As part of our presentation, we will share our framework, which is rooted in principles of student leadership, multi-disciplinary collaboration, participatory research, and creative resourcing. And we will share our lessons learned in how to directly involve undergraduate students in the design and development of educational tools, how to integrate participatory research methods at every stage of the design process, and how to utilize existing U of T resources to create a sustainable model of recognition and compensation that can allow these projects to flourish for years to come. 

3.2.2 Assessment Validity and Multiple-Choice Questions: a novel approach that considers students’ critiques and corrections
Danielle Bentley, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Division of Anatomy, Department of Surgery, Angelo N. Sotto, MSc Candidate, Institute of Medical Science, Temerty Faculty of Medicine  

Traditional multiple-choice questions (tMCQs) are frequently criticized for their limited validity as they fail to credit partial knowledge and often reward guessing. This session explores a novel question style, the critique-and-correct multiple-choice questions (ccMCQs), where students are required to select one correct answer from four possible options AND provide corrections for two of the three remaining distractors. Using data from n = 908 undergraduate embryology students collected over the span of five years, we assessed the predictive power of ccMCQs compared to tMCQs on term test mark, and final course grade. We also assessed the impact of ccMCQs on academic rigour by comparing mean ccMCQ and tMCQ scores, with the hypothesis that ccMCQs would better predict student performance without compromising assessment rigour. Our findings indicate that ccMCQs offer a more promising assessment of student learning compared to tMCQs. While they resulted in slightly higher grades, their stronger predictive validity and lower variability suggest that this shift resembles an authentic assessment of students’ learning, capturing deeper understanding beyond simple recall. This study underscores the potential of this innovative approach to improve assessment methods in higher education, ensuring fair evaluation of learning outcomes in large-class settings. In this session, we will also explore effective design of ccMCQs, discuss how students might approach these questions, and share student feedback about this novel question style. 

3.3 Teaching Dialogue: Structured Flexibility as a Tool for Inclusive and Equitable Pedagogy

Jessica Dere, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Psychology, Ashmita Mazumder, PhD student, Psychology, University of Toronto Scarborough Campus  

Student-centered approaches are an integral part of inclusive and equitable pedagogies. At the same time, promoting flexibility, sustained engagement, and student participation alongside considerations of assessment integrity, fairness, and workload is often daunting. Balancing these factors in the context of a Credit/No Credit (CR/NCR) course raises unique challenges and opportunities. Without traditional grade incentives, how can we ensure students remain engaged? In this roundtable discussion, we will share insights into how an approach of structured flexibility – including scaffolded assignments, flexible grading structures, and student-driven engagement models – can be harnessed as a tool in CR/NCR courses, with lessons for diverse teaching contexts. We will discuss our implementation of this approach in a novel breadth course titled Psychology in Context, a new second-year course at UTSC. Our approach provides multiple pathways to success, allowing students to choose how they engage with assignments while ensuring they meet clear learning objectives. Within a CR/NCR framework, this model helps maintain student motivation and participation while also fostering equity and access. The session will begin with a brief presentation outlining the opportunities and challenges of designing a CR/NCR course, highlighting how these strategies can be applied to sustain participation throughout the term. We will share insights on how this approach was developed, implemented, and refined using a students-as-partners and equity-focused model. Participants will then engage in a facilitated discussion on the trade-offs, challenges, and lessons that extend beyond CR/NCR courses, including the value of student agency and inclusive assessment models. Attendees will leave with practical strategies for leveraging CR/NCR courses effectively while also considering how these approaches can enhance engagement in traditionally graded courses. 

3.4 Inquiry on Teaching and Learning 4 

3.4.1 The ‘wellness complex’: Studying graduate education in Ontario through a critical disability studies lens
Dr. Lori Ross, Associate Professor, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, Dr. Savitri Persaud, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Health and Society, University of Toronto Scarborough  

In Canada and internationally, high rates of poor mental health reported among postsecondary students have raised concern; however, research on this topic has primarily centred on undergraduate students. Our study aimed to address this gap through a critical disability-informed examination of graduate student mental health in three Ontario universities. A critical disability studies orientation turns our attention away from the individual student and towards understanding how systems and structures (e.g., the postsecondary institution) may be producing disabling environments for students. We utilized situational analysis, a postmodern extension of grounded theory, to examine qualitative data from graduate students (n=26), faculty (n=14), and staff (n=4). Our findings reveal that biomedical and psychocentric understandings of mental health and mental illness dominate university-based programs, supports, and accommodations for graduate students experiencing psychiatric distress, together making up a sector-wide schema that we have termed the ‘wellness complex.’ These biomedical and psychocentric conceptualizations conflict with the lived realities of students in our study, whose experiences were deeply shaped by ableism and other intersecting structural oppressions. Our analysis brings to the fore the processes whereby the academic institution acts in concert with other systems and structures (e.g., neoliberalism) to produce this ‘wellness complex’, within which responsibility for wellbeing is downloaded onto students (and allied faculty), making invisible the role of larger structural forces (such as entrenched ableism) in producing graduate student distress. Mapping the ‘wellness complex’ allows us to expose, examine, and challenge normalized ableism and to contribute to necessary systemic change in graduate education. 

3.4.2 Facilitating students’ ability to reduce over-reliance on AI and do their own reading, thinking and writing in the Age of AI
Elaine Khoo, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Centre for Teaching and Learning, UTSC, Student Co-presenter (TBD) 

When we listen carefully to our students’ challenges with their academic work, we learn about the under-acknowledged language- and culture-related inequities faced by many students (especially multilingual students whose dominant language is not English).  In the Age of AI, there are concerns that over-reliance on AI in order to submit their assignments may result in students depriving themselves of valuable learning opportunities.  Addressing these multiple issues depend greatly on positioning students as partners, with agency to address the inequities through an empowerment approach that involve (a) exponential expansion of linguistic competence and knowledge capital through ethical use of AI in the process of reading; (b) development of critical AI literacy and (c) low-risk, confidence-boosting opportunities to articulate their ideas. The research questions are: (1) What challenges do students report that they face with reading academic texts? (2) What affordances can be provided through AI-powered individualized support depending on individual student needs?; (c) What “small teaching” tweaks can be made to help address the previously insurmountable reading challenges?  Findings and insights again from the study will be shared, and discussion of implications for different teaching contexts will be explored.  A student co-presenter will share student perspectives on this approach. 

3:15pm-4:15pm: Concurrent Sessions 4

4.1 Teaching Dialogue: Sustainability for local Indigenous Community Education across the curriculum

Sherry Fukuzawa, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Anthropology, University of Toronto Mississauga, Elder Carolyn King, Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, Elder Garry Sault, Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, Elder Margaret Sault, Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, Councillor Veronica King-Jamieson, Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, Jordan Jamieson, Field Liaison, Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, Nicole Laliberte, Associate Professor Teaching Stream, Geography, University of Toronto Mississauga 

This roundtable will focus on relationship building in support of educational initiatives of Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation (MCFN) as territorial host of all UofT campuses. Indigenous Action Group (IAG) representatives, a collective of MCFN Elders, Knowledge Holders, artisans, and community members with UTM setter faculty, and Indigenous staff, will demonstrate the importance of local Indigenous community-engaged learning (CEL) course design to create safe accessible spaces for community members by honoring the place-centered history, stories, culture, ecology, and ways of knowing unique to each First Nation (Fukuzawa et al., 2020; King et al., in press) 

This session will present a proposal by the IAG for a Community-engaged Learning (CEL) HUB educational model to expand a CEL course implemented by a local Indigenous community across disciplines. This model addresses sustainability and funding challenges by integrating in-person sessions with video material so Elders may prioritize their commitment to their community. Video materials adhere to OCAP principles under First Nations Information Governance Center to ensure local Indigenous communities receive appropriate honorariums and control over course materials. The HUB template allows disciplines to include subject specific materials with public gatherings. The session will open a dialogue with U of T instructors across three campuses to discuss ongoing and potential partnerships and projects with local Indigenous curricula. This discussion will include successes and challenges for sustainable relationships based on equity, respect and responsibility. The session will conclude with a plan to form a collective across the three campuses to work on local Indigenous pedagogy. 

4.2 Teaching Dialogue: Engaging Students in Advancing Equitable and Inclusive Teaching

Sania Hameed, Special Projects Officer, Teaching Initiatives, OVPIUE,  Jessica Dere, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream and Associate Chair Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, Psychology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Sanja Hinić-Frlog, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Biology and Interim Associate Dean, Teaching & Learning, University of Toronto Mississauga, Judith Poë, Professor Emerita, Olivier St-Cyr, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream and the Associate Dean, Teaching and Learning, Faculty of Information, Rebecca Laposa, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Pharmacology and Toxicology, Temerty Faculty of Medicine 

This roundtable session brings together a group of instructors working on LEAF+ funded projects focused on advancing equitable and inclusive teaching in order to share some of the insights, models and resources that emerged from their projects. This session will focus specifically on how instructors engaged undergraduate students to foster student-centered innovation while advancing equitable and inclusive teaching objectives.   

This student engagement takes multiple forms across the projects including students collaborating with curriculum and EDI committees within an academic unit, engaging in critical reflection on discipline-specific assumptions and controversies, contributing to the development of a resource repository, and assessing the usability of a tool. This approach to equitable and inclusive teaching that centers student engagement serves to empower students in the learning process, as students actively contribute to developing a classroom culture that values inclusivity and diversity, and that not only enhances their own growth and understanding but also serves to support their peers.   

This session will offer participants a range of examples of student engagement modalities in equitable and inclusive teaching-focused projects, an overview of the benefits and challenges of each modality, resources that can be adapted to future participant projects, and space for shared discussion on how to deepen student engagement while advancing equity in teaching and learning. While this session is focused on course instructors, the resources and lessons learned may be of broader interest to librarians, staff that support instructors and courses and academic administrators aiming to advance equitable and inclusive teaching in their units. 

4.3 Spark an Idea 4: Nifty Assessments    

4.3.1 Cultivating Wisdom Through Self-Reflection: A Personal Life Philosophy Assignment
Amanda Sharples, Assistant Professor, Psychology, Faculty of Arts & Science  

There has been a call from scholars of pedagogy to encourage the cultivation of wisdom in higher education (Bruya & Ardelt, 2018; Ferrari & Kim, 2019; Jakubik, 2023).  Indeed, wisdom has consistently been linked to greater well-being and may buffer against the stressful experiences that undergraduate students frequently encounter (Liu & Sharples, in prep; Ardelt & Jeste, 2016). Research on the pedagogy of wisdom suggests that self-reflection may be particularly important for enhancing wisdom (Bruya & Ardelt, 2018). Many undergraduate students are at a pivotal stage in life, referred to as emerging adulthood, where they may be focused on exploring their identities and developing their character strengths (Arnett, 2000). This may be a key stage in life to self-reflect and develop wise reasoning skills. During this talk, I will discuss a personal life philosophy assignment that allows students to learn about themselves. This assignment is broken into three stages. During stage one, students learn about their personal values and character strengths. During stage two, students write their personal life philosophy and put together a plan for specific actions they may take over the next six weeks to implement this philosophy. During stage three, students reflect on how they implemented this plan, the challenges they faced, and whether they would make any changes to their personal life philosophy. This assignment is designed with the goal of encouraging students to think about their long-term goals, what a good life looks like to them, and how their current daily behaviours are helping them achieve a good life. I will discuss ways this assessment may be adapted for use in a variety of courses and how it may be shortened into a one-time assessment or in-class activity. 

4.3.2 Developing student competencies using simulation connected to written assessment
Carolyn Mak, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work  

How can simulation be used as a tool to enhance student learning about counselling skills and inform a deliverable of a written assessment? Simulation is not a new method for competency-based assessment in social work (Logie, et al. 2013), however little is discussed about the ways to connect simulation to written assessments. This nifty assessment demonstrates how social work graduate students develop skills and competencies in the practice of cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT); in this case, students were asked to write an assessment paper based on data collected from a simulation exercise with a standardized patient (SP). 

Attendees will learn about the adopted holistic competence model in social work (Council on Social Work Education, 2022) including how it is comprised of both procedural competence and meta-competence (Bogo, 2022). This session will clearly outline the direct connection between specific course and learning objectives to the use of simulation as a tool to creatively evaluate the development of procedural skills. Further, details will be shared about the ways in which scaffolding of group activities to prepare for the simulation fostered a sense of inclusivity and group efficacy in the class where many students were intimidated and nervous about interviewing a SP. The instructor’s development of the SP’s case and how this aligned with course learning objectives will also be discussed. Overall, this nifty assessment is one way to understand the development of student competence, including ethics, values and knowledge as it is translated into everyday practice (Asakura, et al., 2024). 

4.3.3 Take Care: A well-being curriculum for undergraduate students
Suzi Lima, Assistant Professor, Linguistics, Faculty of Arts & Science, Dr. Lauren Brown, Program Coordinator, Multi-Faith Centre  

Take Care is a modular student well-being assessment that can be integrated into any course. The aims of Take Care are fivefold 1) teach students skills that can improve their academic performance 2) increase their capacity to cope with stressors encountered during coursework 3) encourage critical thinking as students apply the skills learned in Take Care to other courses, the workplace and their personal well-being 4) foster students autonomy by providing multiple means of engagement, action and expression 5) provide equitable access to learning these skills which are often only taught beyond the classroom in the co-curricular space. This final aim is of utmost importance as co-curricular learning, while highly valued, is often not accessible to students who have limited time due to long commutes, work, and family responsibilities.  Additionally, students experiencing mental health disorders such as generalized anxiety disorder or those who feel overwhelmed may not take on additional activities beyond the classroom. Through Take Care students build skills such as self-regulation, healthy boundaries for teamwork, deep listening, and productivity through focused attention. Take Care assignments are timed in relation to the demands and skills necessary for success in each course and can easily be integrated into Quercus. Take Care assessments ask students to describe their experiences and how they can apply what they learned to their academic or professional lives. Students receive up to 1% of their final grade per Take Care assessment they complete. 

4.4 Course Instructor Roundtable 

SPECIAL SESSION: In Conversation with the Graduate Student Course Instructor Teaching Excellence Award Shortlist  

Presenters: 
Donald McCarthy, Classics, PhD Candidate, Course Instructor, Faculty of Arts & Science
Carlie Manners, History, PhD Candidate, Course Instructor, Faculty of Arts & Science 
Liza Igoshina, Psychology, PhD Candidate, Course Instructor, Faculty of Arts & Science  

Moderator:  
Stacey J Butler, PhD, Institute of Medical Science, Course Instructor Coordinator, Teaching Assistant Training Program  

In this roundtable session, we will engage in conversation with some of the University of Toronto’s top graduate student course instructors on their approach to teaching challenges and building learning communities. These instructors were shortlisted for the 2024-2025 Course Instructor Teaching Excellence Award, which is given annually by the Teaching Assistants’ Training Program to the top graduate student course instructors across the University of Toronto campuses. The panelists will join us to reflect on their teaching experience and share with us their top strategies for engaging, supporting, and motivating their students. Panelists will also reflect on their journeys of becoming effective educators and designing transformative teaching strategies. The roundtable will conclude with a live Q&A, giving participants an opportunity to ask questions.  

Day 2: May 13, 2025 (in-person)

Myhal Centre, 55 St. George Street

8:30am-9am: Registration

Myhal Lobby

9am-10am: Concurrent Session 5

5.1 Interactive Workshop: Mindfulness as a Liberatory Practice: Anti-Racism work in Action 

Jasjit Sangha, Educational Developer, Anti-racist Pedagogy, Center for Teaching and Learning, UTSC, Diana Pearson, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Coordinator, EDIO, University of Toronto Scarborough 

In this session, participants will engage in dialogue around creating and maintaining inclusive and equitable learning environments. The use of community guidelines as an approach for engaging in constructive classroom discussions will be presented using a real-life case study from an undergraduate course on Equity and Diversity in Education at the University of Toronto Mississauga. The benefits and affordances of implementing community guidelines rooted in key concepts of EDI will be discussed as a means of honouring students’ lived experiences and ensuring that classroom discourse never debates any one person’s or group’s humanity.

Participants will also engage in ‘taking stock’ as they examine how their current pedagogies are influenced by their own identities and those of their students. The majority of the time in this roundtable will be dedicated to working in groups to investigate and assess different strategies for discussing tough topics while remaining unequivocally committed to maintaining a safe learning environment. Although avoiding difficult conversations and controversial topics with our students may seem appealing for a range of reasons, this session argues that in order to best meet the needs of our students, familiarity with their intersectional identities can facilitate the aforementioned conversations in service of the overall student experience.

5.2 Interactive Workshop: Community collaboration towards anti-colonial principles 

Alexandra Guerson, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, New College, Tyson Seburn, Assistant Director, International Programs, New College, Melissa Levin, Assistant Professor Teaching Stream, New College, Jeff Newman, College Librarian, New College 

Classrooms, in both form and content, are never neutral spaces. Inayatullah (2022) reminds us that educational institutions have historically been sites of imperialist production, with teachers as its agents. The pedagogical imperative to disrupt this relationship demands deliberate strategies and approaches that seek to facilitate social change. De-colonial and anti-colonial thought and pedagogies are, at their cores, attempts to re-envision what we do in the classroom and beyond as tools for fostering human flourishing and dismantling taken-for-granted categories (Ndlovu-Gatsheni, 2020). But, and implied above, classrooms do not operate unmoored from their historical context. We cannot think our way out of coloniality (cf Tuck and Yang, 2012). However, we can begin to create environments that foster critical and equitable modes of being. In the continued presence of colonial land dispossession and exploitation, what does a de-colonial or anti-colonial classroom practice look like? New Pedagogy, a community-driven group at New College met over the autumn of 2024 to articulate five criteria we believe can provide an educational experience that focuses on transformation, critical inquiry, and thriving. This session will begin by sharing the document that was collegially developed by the members of New Pedagogy and the discussions that led to it. Workshop participants will then be invited to collectively discuss how these principles may apply to their contexts and what institutional considerations enable or impede their application. 

5.3 Interactive Workshop: Learning Literacy as a Foundation for AI Literacy 

Rahul Bhat, Centre for Learning Strategy Support, Resilience Program Lead, Alexander Bowie, Centre for Learning Strategy Support, Learning Strategist, Resilience Focus, Ellyn Kerr, Centre for Learning Strategy Support, Learning Strategist, Grad and Professional Programs, Vivian Zhang, Centre for Learning Strategy Support, Learning Strategist, Innis College   

Generative AI is reshaping how we teach and how students learn. This workshop invites instructors to consider: How can we navigate tensions between monitoring unethical and learning-ineffectual AI use and equipping students to make informed, learning-supportive decisions about using AI? How might we shift from deficit or control models that focus primarily on risks, to embrace a growth model that listens to and validates discomforts, harnesses student curiosity, and reinforces the fundamentals of learning?   

While the risks of deskilling and academic misconduct are real, the learning-support community is exploring ways to best encourage students in effective learning amidst AI disruption. The Centre for Learning Strategy Support is focusing on learning literacy as a foundation to AI literacy. This approach enables students to embrace desirable difficulty in their learning and apply the critical thinking, metacognitive, and self-regulatory skills essential for responsible AI use.    

This interactive workshop introduces a framework that asks students to reflect on AI and learning at three levels: learning in the world, learning within one’s own (academic) context, and learning in practice. Through student stories, reflective case studies, and collaborative brainstorming using Microsoft Whiteboard, we will explore the benefits and tensions in our current approach.   

This workshop will ask: How does listening – to ourselves and to our students – improve our practice as educators? As generative AI technologies progress, what are the ways we can reaffirm our commitment to human-centered learning in our teaching? 

10:15am-11:15am: Concurrent Session 6 

6.1 Interactive Workshop: Learning and/as Play: Playfulness as Human-Centered Pedagogical Practice

Erin Vearncombe, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Institute for the Study of University Pedagogy, University of Toronto Mississauga, Jennifer Ross, Woodsworth College, Transitional Year Programme, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Digital Humanities and Writing 

 ““Play” and “work” appear as opposites: work is comprised of rigorous, accomplishment-oriented activity whereas play is unstructured activity for its own sake, a voluntary behaviour directed at personal enjoyment. Scholarship on play in education, however, shifts our perspective such that neat divisions between work and play are constructively blurred. Koops and Taggart, for example, view play “as activities and dispositions that allow for trying out ideas without immediate judgment or evaluation, increasing enjoyment or flow, and fostering creativity in a safe environment” (2011). A safe environment – and one that fosters human flourishing – is one that values failure, guess and check, and experimentation in problem-solving.   

Re-learning to play in higher education empowers educators to address the challenges shaping teaching and learning in higher education today, including anxiety, depression, barriers to learning, structural inequities, classroom absence, and burnout—for both learners and ourselves. Play effectively facilitates the development of core academic behaviours: curiosity, experimentation, failure, resilience, creativity, adaptive problem-solving, etc. In this session, we invite participants to connect with both research and each other as we experiment with playfulness as a human-centered pedagogical practice. First, we engage recent scholarship on play and learning in higher education. We then go digital as we model a unit on knowledge production, preservation and censorship in the contemporary age structured around the Uncensored Library, a component of the popular game Minecraft. Movement between play, discussion and collaborative design work will facilitate a puckish and critically engaged learning period emphasizing the pedagogical value of curiosity, culminating in the design of small teaching innovations that participants can take away to transform their own teaching into sites for human flourishing. 

6.2 Interactive Workshop: Co-Facilitating Career Exploration: Engaging with Students as Partners for Transformative, Human-Centered Learning   

Nicole Birch-Bayley, Educational Developer, Career Learning, Career Exploration & Education, Student Life, Kelci Archibald, Lead Coordinator, Career Education, Career Exploration & Education, Student Life, Jon Bray, Career Educator, Career Exploration & Education, Student Life 

In a time of rapid change and socioeconomic uncertainty, engaging students as partners in conversations about career development—both within and outside of the university classroom—is more crucial than ever before to fostering well-being and hope (Piotti, DeFelice, & Jackson, 2022). While there is growing scholarship on the Students as Partners (SaP) model in higher education, the application of this framework within the context of career development remains underexplored (Cook-Sather, Bovill, & Felten, 2014). This session will explore how career educators from the University of Toronto’s Career Exploration & Education (CxED) center have adopted the SaP model by collaborating with student co-facilitators to build transformative career learning opportunities. Recent work in this field highlights the potential of student partnerships to enhance career readiness and redefine success beyond traditional job paradigms (Drake, 2024).  

The workshop will briefly address the values and benefits of the SaP model, along with examples of how CxED’s staff have partnered with students through a peer advising program, staff working groups, and a recent Indigenous bullet note journaling series. While engaging with examples of collaborative community building and co-learning, participants will be invited to reflect on how they can empower students in their own contexts to co-design learning, redefine career success, and build supportive communities of practice.  

By the end of the workshop, attendees will gain insights into how they can implement student-centered career education practices, reflect on their role as leaders in a time of disruption, and develop actionable strategies for creating inclusive and human-centered career development opportunities. This session is ideal for faculty, staff, and career educators seeking to empower students and strengthen communities within their institutional contexts, while fostering hope in uncertain times. 

6.3 Teaching Dialogue: Skipping the Writing, Skipping the Learning: Foregrounding Writing to Learn in the Age of Generative AI 

Rim Fathallah,  Assistant Professor, John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design/Director, Daniels Writing, Jane Freeman, Director, Graduate Centre for Academic Communication, Paola Bohorquez, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream,  Woodsworth College, Director, Academic Writing Centre, Michael Cournoyea, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Kinesiology and Physical Education, Acting Director, Health Sciences Writing Centre, Daniel Aureliano Newman, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, English, Director of Graduate Writing Support, Faculty of Arts & Science 

Conversations about writing and generative AI often focus on the writing product: Is it plagiarism? Is it good? Is it authentic? This roundtable shifts the focus to the writing process and the inextricable link between writing and learning. Four UofT Writing Directors will springboard discussion by sharing their observations on student uses/abuses of generative AI, identify challenges it poses to learning, and suggest ways to support student learning/writing skill development in the age of generative AI.  

Writing specialists bring a unique perspective on student writing, working with students across disciplines, genres, proficiency levels, and stages of the writing process in the ungraded – and therefore safe – space of the Writing Centre.   

The session will have three learning objectives:  

To share five common challenges that students face with generative AI in writing, including:  

• The inequitable impacts on multilingual learners and novice writers;  
  • The potential erosion of essential reading and research skills;  
  •  Uncertainties about integrating learning literacies, writing literacies, and generative AI literacies;  
  • The significantly different roles of writing for knowledge acquisition and dissemination in various disciplines.  
  • The increased emphasis on university writing as transactional (i.e., writing submitted for grading rather than writing that is integrated into the learning process)  
• To identify potential strategies to address these challenges.  
• To reflect on the challenges collaboratively in breakout rooms.  

This roundtable will promote active participation through Q&A, breakout rooms, and use of a Whiteboard. 

11:30am-12:30pm: Lunch

Lobby, Myhal Centre

NOTE: YOU MUST REGISTER FOR LUNCH. If you still need to register, visit the TLS registration page to update your schedule. If you have any dietary restrictions, please let us know.

12:45pm-4pm: Closing Plenary

12:45pm-1:45pm: Hope Circuits at a time of Seismic Change: Re-wiring our classrooms and institution for Human and Ecological Flourishing 

Dr. Jessica Riddell, Stephen A. Jarislowsky Chair of Undergraduate Teaching Excellence, Full Professor, Department of English, Bishop’s University, 3M National Teaching Fellow (2015) 

Universities are anchors of hope in our communities. As we grapple with unprecedented pressures—from the climate crisis to geopolitical instability, political polarization, and other crises—hope is more essential than ever. Hope is not just an abstract ideal but a mindset we can cultivate and deploy within our institutions and communities. As educators, staff, and leaders in the academy, we are wired to foster hope: to teach it, share it, and collectively imagine a better future. Yet universities, as complex organizations with strong social missions, are often slow to change and hesitant to innovate.  

The 2025 Teaching and Learning Symposium plenary will outline ten conceptual tools to “rewire” our systems with hope circuits, equipping us to better fulfill our mandate at a time when human and ecological flourishing are increasingly endangered. By focusing on the areas of learning, teaching, and gathering, this session will offer actionable strategies to help build hopeful systems for individual and community flourishing. Through an interactive approach, we’ll connect across U of T’s campuses, disciplines, and career stages, building on shared best practices in teaching and learning to create sustainable and hopeful academic spaces. 

What will happen during the Closing Plenary?
This year’s closing plenary will open with a keynote address from Jessica to introduce some core concepts from Hope Circuits to situate our work and subsequent conversations. The Hope Summit, which immediately follows, is an interactive and collaborative session where we’ll work together to ideate practical tools and theoretical frameworks to consider institutional change in the higher education sector and the world more broadly.  

Upon entering MY150 for the closing plenary, participants will have the opportunity to self-select into three different themes to guide small group work for the second half of the plenary. Participants will work with a table facilitator and team note taker to “rumble” on a series of guiding questions to share experience and wisdom to begin the process of collective sensemaking and imagining a creative future.  

Each table will have one of the following labels (based on chapters from Hope Circuits): 

How to Learn 

How Do We Learn – chapter summary (to come)  

“Fundamental difference between student and learner: one is a unit, and the other is a person. You can say, without risk of dismemberment, that the average class size is 26.7 students; people are indivisible, and add abundance to learning environments. They each contribute something unique to the ecosystem that is better than the sum of its parts […] Students can be learners. Learners do not have to be students.”  

How to Teach 

How Do We Teach – chapter summary (to come) 

“What does teaching  mean? In one model, conveying skills involves the transmission of expertise from teacher to student. Transactional in nature, the teacher produces and transfers knowledge then assesses students’ ability to master the information. In another model, creating contexts for growth intermingles teaching and learning that moves towards something new and yet unarticulated, where knowledge is made and shared in transformational ways.” 

How to Gather* 

How Do We Gather – chapter summary (to come) 

“Even as we deploy celebratory rhetoric around cross-disciplinary collaborations, the structures themselves are built for solitudes and silos […] gatherings forge the path towards wholeness and healing; AND: it is also true that some gatherings expose the integrity gap between what universities say and what we actually do.” 

*New chapter

1:45pm-2pm: Break

2:00pm – 2:10: Remarks from Trevor Young, Vice-President & Provost, University of Toronto 

Myhal 150

2:10pm-3pm: Small Group Breakouts/ “Rumbles”

Myhal 150 

3pm-3:30pm: Large Group Debrief 

Myhal 150

3:30pm-4pm: Closing Remarks and Prize Draw

Myhal 150

If you have any questions concerning TLS2025, please email tls@utoronto.ca.

Order a copy of Jessica Riddell’s Hope Circuits: Rewiring Universities and Other Organizations for Human Flourishing from McGill-Queen’s University Press using 25% discount code MQ25 until 31 Dec 2025.