SimonAppolloni, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, School of the Environment            Olivia Allen, Wellness, Fitness and Recreation Programs Coordinator, Hart House Lois Boody, PhD Candidate, OISE, University of Toronto (also Lead TA of ENV100) Jermane Hall, Program Coordinator, Dialogue and Expression, Hart House Clara Kim, Team Lead, MultiFaith Centre       SustainingResonance: Lessons, Insights, and Impact            Climateanxiety and related emotions are increasingly manifest among universitystudents. Students learning about the state of the environment encounterdifficult statistics that cannot easily be grasped, generating feelings ofpowerlessness, fear, anxiety or grief. Add to this the zeitgeist of emotionsthat arise from the dark global realities of war and the rise [...]

2.4.1 Aframework for balancing equity, pedagogy, and management of a multi-sectioncourse Lindsey Shorser,Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Mathematics and Computer Science, FAS Filteringthe Noise: Tools, Trends, and Tensions Building onthe theme for this year's symposium, the signal to noise ratio of things acourse coordinator *could* be doing and the things they *should* be doing caneasily lead to burnout. In this talk, I will present a conceptual tool forfocusing on one aspect of a course at a time, once perspective at a time, andone subset of a "to do" list at a time for anyone running anundergraduate course. The three-role framework for conceptualizing [...]

2.5.1 Aboutbinomial theorem I am teeming with a lot of news: oral tests in a first-yearmath class Shai Cohen, AssistantProfessor, Teaching Stream, ISTEP, FASE                                             Findingthe Frequency: Clarity, Purpose, and What Matters Most    In trying tofocus on the most important elements of the pedagogy, a remedial calculus classhas used many unusual elements - competency-based grading, weekly quizzesinstead of a single midterm, team assignments, etc.  This year, we have added a 15-minute oraltest to the course.  Fully customizable(due to the grading system), this test allows students to go back to theweakest elements of their studies and have an opportunity to raise their marksby [...]

2.6.1 SupportingOur Students' Mental Health: Quercus-based Resources for the Classroom Lauren Brown,Victoria College Vic One Hundred instructor, Health & Wellness, Division ofStudent Life                                                                                                                                      SustainingResonance: Lessons, Insights, and Impact Supportingour Students' Mental Health (SOSMH) is a Quercus-based resource hub for facultyand teaching assistants. SOSMH is a response to the increased interest insupporting student mental health and wellbeing. It recognizes that faculty andteaching assistants are often a first point of contact for students who arestruggling and equips them with simple, easy to access information. Byembedding this content right into Quercus instructors no longer need to searchthrough multiple websites and resources. Faculty [...]

3.5.1 Evaluatingthe use of infographic instruction in undergraduate science classes Naomi Levy-Strumpf,Assistant Professor Teaching Stream, Department of Cell & Systems Biology,Human Biology Program, FAS Filteringthe Noise: Tools, Trends, and Tensions Universityeducation is increasingly embracing multimodal pedagogy, integrating visual,written, and other communication strategies to meet the diverse needs oftoday's students. Research shows that student preferences for learning haveshifted in recent decades, with a growing demand for concise, visually engagingresources, a trend driven by the volume of information students encounter andthe deepening integration of technology in educational settings. Visualinformation is often processed more quickly and efficiently than written orverbal content, and most learners [...]

MarciPrescott-Brown, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, New College WritingCentre, New College, FAS        Paola Bohórquez, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Woodsworth College Findingthe Frequency: Clarity, Purpose, and What Matters Most                As WritingCentre Directors at UTSG (one a new contributor and one returning), we areuniquely positioned to observe first-hand how course instructors acrossdisciplines are rethinking assignment design to navigate the impacts of Gen-AIon student learning. It is a delicate dance that requires us to assess therisks and potential affordances of AI tools without compromising thedevelopment of critical reading, writing, and research skills. It requires, asthis CFP notes, “amplify the signals that foster deep learning, equity,and engagement,” [...]

JenniferOrpana, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Faculty of Information        Silvia Vong, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Faculty of Information    Amplifyingthe Signal: Connection, Engagement, and Civil Discourse           Theever-shifting socio-political landscape means that students are hearing orengaged in difficult conversations in and out of the classroom. For mostdisciplines, local and world events are connected to the knowledge andpractices in the field, and this is even more pronounced for professionalprograms with responsibilities related to equity work. Emotions are a part ofeducating the whole student and thus, it is important to engage in pedagogiesof care to acknowledge their affective experiences with learning. Julé (2019)identifies the need [...]

3.4.1 Competency-basedlearning and radical student agency in first year calculus courses Micheal Pawliuk,Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Mathematical and Computational Sciences,UTM Eric Hart, Sessional Instructor, Computer and Mathematical Sciences, UTSC Janelle Resch (co-author), Sessional Instructor, Mathematical and ComputationalSciences, UTM Findingthe Frequency: Clarity, Purpose, and What Matters Most If testscores are the primary “signal” students use to gauge their progress in afirst-year large first-year math course at U of T, what happens when wedeliberately amplify that signal by allowing students to retake assessmentsuntil they demonstrate competency, and by making expectations explicit anditerative? In this presentation, we examine a radical redesign of MAT135Calculus 1 [...]

Teachingwith Claude: Lessons from a Cross-Disciplinary Pilot Will Heikoop, Digital Learning Innovation & Engagement                             Wilson Prichard, Gwen Wang, Aaron Wheeler, Naomi Levy Strumpf, Jaqueline WhyteAppleby, Sophia Bello, Phanikiran Radhakrishnan Filteringthe Noise: Tools, Trends, and Tensions                     Generative AItools are rapidly reshaping conversations about teaching and learning—butamidst the excitement and concern, it can be difficult to determine whatmeaningfully supports student learning and what simply adds noise. Thisinteractive 60-minute workshop shares lessons from U of T’s Claude forEducation pilot, in which instructors across disciplines experimented with AIin their courses. Pilotparticipants explored diverse applications, including AI-supported coursechatbots and tutors, structured assignment integration, and guided student [...]

Alli Diskin, Programs Coordinator, Teaching Assistants' Training Program, Centre for Teaching Support & Innovation                         Lisa Aikman, Educational Developer, Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Scholars, CTL, UTSC Jessica Bailey, Graduate Support Strategist Joel Rodgers, Coordinator, Graduate Student Professional Development, Arts & Science Finding the Frequency: Clarity, Purpose, and What Matters Most     Graduate student professional development is central to shaping thoughtful, confident, and well supported emerging scholars and professionals. Across the university, however, faculty and staff rarely have opportunities to reflect together on how departmental cultures, supervisory relationships, and institutional structures influence [...]

Jasjit Sangha,Educational Developer, Centre for Teaching and Learning, UTSC Paulina Rousseau, Liaison Librarian, UTSC Kathleen Scheaffer, Strategic Initiatives and Liaison Librarian, UTM             Amplifyingthe Signal: Connection, Engagement, and Civil Discourse           Increasingly,higher education within Canada is facing shrinking resources and simultaneouslyeducators are being challenged to engage larger class sizes with more diverseand complex needs, including the disruptions from AI. In response, the book“Hope Circuits”, Ridell (2024) invites us to reimagine the universityto create campuses that are more inclusive, more human centered,less hierarchical, and more responsive to the needs of students and the contextwithin and beyond the classroom. To achieve this, contemplative pedagogy, acritically informed and accessible teaching strategy that is rooted in Easternwisdom and [...]

Moderator:Moaz Shoura, PhD Candidate, Course Instructor Coordinator, Teaching Assistants’Training Program Course Instructor Teaching Excellence Award Shortlisted Candidates In thisroundtable session, we will engage in conversation with graduate student courseinstructors at the University of Toronto’s and hear their approach to teachingchallenges and building learning communities. Panelists include the CourseInstructor Coordinator at the Teaching Assistants’ Training Program (TATP) andshortlisted candidates for the 2026 CourseInstructor Teaching Excellence Award (mailto:https://tatp.utoronto.ca/awards/ci-award/), which is given annually by the TATP tothe top graduate student course instructors across the University of Torontocampuses. The panelists will join us to reflect on their teaching experienceand share with us their top strategies [...]