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.

3.1.3Transforming 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.