Events

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 [...]

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 [...]

Sania Hameed, Special Projects Officer, Teaching Initiatives, OVPIUE,  Jessica Dere, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream and Associate Chair Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, Psychology, University of TorontoScarborough, Sanja Hinić-Frlog, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Biology and Interim Associate Dean, Teaching & Learning, University of Toronto Mississauga, JudithPoë,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 [...]

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 frequentlyencounter (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 [...]

SPECIAL SESSION: In Conversation with the Graduate Student Course Instructors (including Teaching Excellence Award Shortlisted Candidates)   Presenters: Donald McCarthy, Classics, PhD Candidate, Course Instructor, Faculty of Arts & Science, Liza Igoshina, Psychology, PhD Candidate, Course Instructor, Faculty of Arts & Science, Stacey J Butler, PhD, Course Instructor Coordinator, Teaching Assistants’ Training Program Moderator: Cristina D'Amico, PhD, Faculty Liaison Coordinator, Graduate Student Development & TA Training In this roundtable session, we will engage in conversation with three graduate student course instructors at the University of Toronto’s and hear their approach to teaching challenges and building learning communities. Panelists represent Graduate Education Developers and [...]

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 Hope Circuits Ridell (2024) states: “As members of the academy, we are hard-wired for hope – to teach it, to share it, and to imagine a better future” (17). However, the actual process of creating hope can be fraught, especially for anti-racist educators who are striving to change the teaching culture of post-secondary institutions and address historical injustice. Doing anti-racist work often requires contending with one’s own experiences of racial, and other forms of, trauma which may manifest [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]