Jam Session

Safieh Moghaddam, Associate Professor, Language Studies, Centre for Teaching and Learning Dina Soliman, Educational Developer, Digital Pedagogies                                                     Filtering the Noise: Tools, Trends, and Tensions         Generative AI can introduce “noise” into assessment: polished text that masks learning, unclear authorship, overconfident claims supported by weak or fabricated evidence, and tasks that inadvertently reward fluency over intended learning outcomes. This interactive workshop supports instructors in redesigning one existing assignment so the “signal” (reasoning, evidence use, and [...]

Nicole Birch-Bayley, Educational Developer, Career Exploration & Education                     Kelci Archibald, Lead Coordinator, Career Education, Career Exploration & Education                Amplifying the Signal: Connection, Engagement, and Civil Discourse     Postsecondary students are asked to make sense of both their academic learning and career futures in environments saturated with competing priorities. In career education, noise often takes the form of grim labour‑market statistics, anxieties about AI, climate change, and skills gaps, and prescriptive narratives emphasizing outcomes over process. Academic learning is similarly noisy with performance pressures, unclear expectations, [...]

Chris Eaton, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Institute for Scholarship in University Pedagogy (ISUP), UTM                                                   Claire Gouveia, PhD candidate, OISE Sheliza Ibrahim, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, ISUP, UTM Kathleen Scheaffer, Librarian, UTM Joanna Szurmak, Librarian, UTM Michelle Troberg, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, DLS, UTM Finding the Frequency: Clarity, Purpose, and What Matters Most    As learners, we have experienced moments in which we tuned into a previously difficult concept as it resolved into a clear and resonant signal. [...]

Teaching with Claude: Lessons from a Cross-Disciplinary Pilot Darius Ornston, Professor, Teaching Stream, Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy speaking on behalf of Wilson Prichard, Professor, Teaching Stream   Will Heikoop, Digital Learning Innovation & Engagement speaking on behalf of Aaron Wheeler, Professor, Teaching Stream, Chemistry, FAS   Phanikiran Radhakrishnan, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Management, UTSC   Jaqueline Whyte Appleby, Associate Director, Scholars Portal Sophia Bello, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, French, FAS Sam Maglio, Professor, Teaching Stream, Management, UTSC  Filtering the Noise: Tools, Trends, and Tensions                     Generative AI tools are rapidly reshaping conversations [...]

Jennifer Orpana, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Faculty of Information        Silvia Vong, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Faculty of Information    Amplifying the Signal: Connection, Engagement, and Civil Discourse           The ever-shifting socio-political landscape means that students are hearing or engaged in difficult conversations in and out of the classroom. For most disciplines, local and world events are connected to the knowledge and practices in the field, and this is even more pronounced for professional programs with responsibilities related to equity work. Emotions are a part of educating the whole student and thus, it is important to [...]

Lisa Aikman, Educational Developer, Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Scholars Centre for Teaching and Learning, UTSC Alli Diskin, Programs Coordinator, Teaching Assistants' Training Program, CTSI Andrea Graham, Graduate Programs Team Lead, Centre for Learning Strategy Support, Student Life Joel Rodgers, Coordinator, Graduate Student Professional Development, FAS 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 graduate students’ growth in their academic [...]

Jasjit Sangha, Educational Developer, Centre for Teaching and Learning, UTSC Paulina Rousseau, Liaison Librarian, UTSC Kathleen Scheaffer, Strategic Initiatives and Liaison Librarian, UTM             Amplifying the Signal: Connection, Engagement, and Civil Discourse           Increasingly, higher education within Canada is facing shrinking resources and simultaneously educators are being challenged to engage larger class sizes with more diverse and complex needs, including the disruptions from AI. In response, the book “Hope Circuits”, Ridell (2024) invites us to reimagine the university to create campuses that are more inclusive, more human centered, less hierarchical, and more responsive to [...]

Simon Appolloni, 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       Sustaining Resonance: Lessons, Insights, and Impact            Climate anxiety and related emotions are increasingly manifest among university students. Students learning about the state of the environment encounter difficult statistics that cannot easily be grasped, generating feelings of powerlessness, fear, anxiety or grief. [...]

Marci Prescott-Brown, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, New College Writing Centre, New College, FAS        Paola Bohórquez, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Woodsworth College Finding the Frequency: Clarity, Purpose, and What Matters Most                As Writing Centre Directors at UTSG (one a new contributor and one returning), we are uniquely positioned to observe first-hand how course instructors across disciplines are rethinking assignment design to navigate the impacts of Gen-AI on student learning. It is a delicate dance that requires us to assess the risks and potential affordances of AI tools without compromising the development of [...]

Erin Vearncombe, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Institute for the Study of University Pedagogy (ISUP), UTM  Chris Eaton, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream & Associate Director, Research, ISUP, UTM Sarah Flood, 3rd-year undergraduate in Sociology; Research Assistant, ISUP, UTM Talla Enaya, undergraduate alumna, UTM; Program Assistant, Institute for the Study of University Pedagogy, UTM Filtering the Noise: Tools, Trends, and Tensions              Evaluative judgment refers to the capability to make informed, defensible decisions about the quality of work (Tai et al., 2018). This capability has always been central to academic success and professional practice, yet it has remained [...]