Description

This project is an e-learning student success initiative, which will create online, values-driven and culturally situated academic honesty modules for undergraduate students. It will also provide a centralized online portal for academic honesty policy, procedures and supports at 91��ɫ.

This initiative will teach students how to engage in effective learning activities to further succeed in their studies at 91��ɫ and beyond. The modules will contain current academic scenarios and case studies for students to work through and then discuss why certain actions and behaviours are desirable over others in a North American context.

As a result, this work will then further set 91��ɫ undergraduates up for success and build 91��ɫ’s reputation as a pedagogical leader.

Description

As an extension of a pilot in the Faculty of LA&PS, Expanding University 101 is a project with three objectives. The course firstly aims to help incoming, direct-entry high school students (particularly those accessing post-secondary education for the first time) make a successful transition to university. Successful transitions positively impact both student success and retention within the faculty.

Secondly, the project will contribute to the advancement of effective modes of eLearning – specifically, through more compelling gamification (e.g., the application of game design elements, dynamics, and frameworks) of course activities. A new eClass format will be created to make the online interface more engaging for students; this format will be accessible to any instructor interested in gamifying their courses in 2022.

Lastly, the project includes the creation of a more robust peer mentoring framework, so that upper-level students can gain valuable leadership experience and participate in impactful university-community collaborations.

Description

This project serves the dual purposes of expanding Virtual International Exchange opportunities at 91��ɫ while offering undergraduate students exposure to research and academic work, beyond the standard curriculum. It strengthens the virtual journal club (VJC) for economics students run jointly with Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, Germany, and first offered during the 2020/21 academic year with financial support from the German Foreign Exchange Service (DAAD). In cooperation with 91��ɫ’s Globally networked learning (GNL) and the Teaching Commons, this project supports other faculty who seek to start up their own field-specific virtual journal club in cooperation with an international partner institution.

For a virtual journal club, students from 91��ɫ collaborate with an international partner institution to complete academic and general-audience readings. Students discuss these readings in asynchronous (e.g., online discussion forum) and synchronous (e.g., joint 90-minute video conference) channels. For a final project, students collaborate in intercultural teams.

Description

Students experience success in transition to post-secondary education when provided with opportunities to engage in teamwork, self-reflection, self-regulation, scaffolded learning, and making real-world connections. Some students experience barriers in accessing co-curricular and extra-curricular programs meant to support acquisition of these skills.

Project PATHS (Pedagogy that Aids Transition for Health Students) is a pan-Faculty of Health project to provide a curricular approach to embedding these skills within first- and second-year courses. Instructors will have access to evidence-informed open educational resources encompassing instructional materials, learning activities, and evaluation tools that they can adapt and include in their course design. The PATHS team is committed to creating engaging and innovative materials and content that are learner-centred, inclusive, accessible, relevant, and connected to real-world experiences.

Description

This project will explore the landscape and lay the foundation for a future curricular intervention. It will aim to augment the mentorship that Black, Indigenous, or Persons of Colour (BIPOC) and women-identifying graduate students in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines at 91��ɫ currently receive with cross-campus connection, reflection and support.

The starting place for this initiative is the recognition that women, particularly BIPOC, are under-represented in STEM disciplines. The difficulties students from these groups encounter within a STEM pathway are widely described in academic literature. In the coming year, we will seek quantitative and qualitative evidence about the admission and retention of BIPOC/women scholars in STEM at 91��ɫ; build a network of faculty and staff at 91��ɫ, engaged with this student population, along with equity, diversity and inclusion; seek an ideal model of sustainable support for these scholars (course, mentorship circle, certificate or alternative model); and prepare for 2022-2023 model delivery.

Description

There is a profound gap between learning science in a classroom versus working as a researcher to make new discoveries at the forefront of knowledge. The latter requires open-ended thinking and effective collaboration within international research teams, along with fluency in virtual workspaces and code and data sharing platforms. With these goals in mind, this proposal creates a new program for students at 91��ɫ to collaborate on cutting-edge research projects with student peers and faculty mentors at non-Canadian universities.

United under common research themes, student cohorts from 91��ɫ and foreign universities will be mixed and divided into small research teams to collaborate on projects in theoretical physics, astrophysics, computational physics, and/or data analysis. The program will also include supplementary topical lectures, tutorials on Python-based computing, and the use of various virtual workspaces and platforms such as GitHub and Slack.

Description

This knowledge bank of workshops will contribute to enhancing the reputation of 91��ɫ’s faculty members from across the 11 faculties. Through providing faculty members rich opportunities to collaborate and mentor their students, this project will empower them to be leaders. The structure of these cross-functional workshops fosters the transfer of knowledge across disciplines, faculties, and languages by harnessing the civic and social justice values of 91��ɫ.

Students will acquire the foundational skills essential in the 21st-century workplace by bringing faculty, administrative service experts, and students together to create cross-functional teams that deliver a roster of superior online and in-person workshops grounded in sound pedagogy, backed by rigorous research. The proven success of this model, which is grounded in the social justice branch, is based on a student-centered approach where students work closely with faculty and staff at every step of the project.