Fall/Winter 2018/2019
HUMBER ONLINE SOLUTIONS Student Teams Helping Real Business Clients
OPEN BAR
ASK NEXT
A CTL-Developed Tool That Makes the Web More Accessible
Advice On Paper-Free Teaching And More
Pushing The Boundaries of Augmented Reality See p.10 for the full story
TABLE OF CONTENTS Fall/Winter 2018/2019
FALL/WINTER 2018/2019, ISSUE 11
A SPECIAL THANK YOU FOR YOUR CREATIVE CONTRIBUTIONS: This issue of NEXT was created with the help of students from Humber’s Professional Writing and Communications program. Nathan Whitlock, Editor, Humber Press Kristin Valois, Editorial Assistant, Humber Press Dekel Chui and Andrea Chan, Graphic Designers, The Centre for Teaching & Learning Humber Press 205 Humber College Blvd. Toronto, ON M9W 5L7 HumberPress@humber.ca humberpress.com @HumberPress
Welcome to NEXT 5
Editor’s Note: Making it Happen
The Humber Community
On request, this document is available in alternate formats. Please call CTL at 416.675.6622 Ext. 5040.
COVER PHOTO COURTESY OF DENNIS KAPPEN AND GEORGE PARAVANTES
6
Humber Online Solutions Lets Students Work With Real Clients
9
A New Investigative Program Shows Students the Reality of Online Crime
10
Professors and Students Push the Boundaries of Augmented Reality Cover Story
6 10
16
NEXT Tech
Teaching & Learning Excellence
16
The Educational Possibilities of Artificial Intelligence
26
The NEXTcast Q&A: Steve Cober
20
The Free, Easy-To-Use, CTL-Designed Tool that is Making the Web More Accessible
28
Ask NEXT: Advice For Faculty
30
Faculty Publications, Awards, Conference Presentations and More
33
Goodbye to Eileen DeCourcy
22
Nine Online Tools To Try in the Classroom
NEXT Scholarship 25
TIF Stories: Teaching With Animated Videos
The Scholar’s CafÊ is a chance to discuss the latest in teaching and learning literature. It is like a book club, but for journal articles. Each month, faculty will gather to chat informally about a selected paper from a scholarly teaching and learning journal. Please join us for coffee and a collegial discussion! Note: A pdf of the article will be sent after receiving your registration. Sessions at the Lake will be by satellite.
NORTH: D225I FRIDAYS FROM 10:00-11:00 AM JAN. 18/FEB. 8/MAR. 8/APR. 12 Register online at: www.humber.ca/centreforteachingandlearning
WELCOME TO HUMBER
EDITOR’S NOTE
MAKING IT HAPPEN
“HUMBER IS NOT JUST ABOUT learning—it’s about learning and doing,” says Industrial Design professor Dennis Kappen in this issue’s cover story [see p.10] about the groundbreaking project he helped oversee with Multimedia Design professor George Paravantes. Together with a group of very committed students, Kappen and Paravantes developed the prototype of a device that would allow ambulance attendants to communicate with both patients and hospitals in real time, using augmented reality technology. They presented their incredible work this past September at very highly respected and influential global conference on cutting-edge automotive tech. Why did Kappen and Paravantes’s team focus on using augmented reality in an emergency situation? Simple: because no one else had yet. This issue of NEXT is full of stories of Humber faculty and staff identifying gaps in knowledge, technology, and teaching tools, and then working to fill them—most often with the help of a multidisciplinary team. Read about The Centre for Teaching & Learning’s Lichuan Wen, who has developed a free, easy-to-use tool that makes websites more accessible. Or professor Austin Tian, who not only created short animated videos to use in his engineering courses, but also accessed the Teaching Innovation Fund to research the effectiveness of those videos. These stories, along with the others in this issue—and in every issue of NEXT— show why Humber is a leader in the field of teaching and learning: our faculty, staff and students see problems as opportunities to work together and find solutions. In other words, to learn and do.
PHOTO: DEKEL CHUI
| 5
THE HUMBER COMMUNITY
Part of the Team
HUMBER ONLINE SOLUTIONS GIVES STUDENTS THE OPPORTUNITY TO WORK WITH REAL BUSINESS CLIENTS By Quinn Huynh ILLUSTRATION: SHUTTERSTOCK / VIKTORIA KURPAS
6 |
HUMBER COLLEGE IS WELL KNOWN for providing students with career-focused learning experiences through work placements. The best experiences offer real-world challenges—like learning to work closely within a multidisciplinary team—so that students develop skills beyond what can be learned in the classroom. Humber Online Solutions is exactly such an experience. Offered through the Experiential Learning program since 2015, the initiative (funded by grants from the Ontario Centres of Excellence) has been assembling students into research teams that engage directly with small businesses to plan, design and deliver solutions to digital challenges such as branding, website production, content creation and social media outreach. The students have traditionally
THE HUMBER COMMUNITY
Participating in the program is an independent learning process: the students learn by working together to complete hands-on assignments, with real-world business clients.
been drawn from The Business School and the School of Media Studies and Information Technology, but the program is currently looking to partner with an even wider range of disciplines. The teams have worked with a variety of clients including coffee shops, theatre companies, therapists and personal trainers. Participating in the program is an independent learning process: the students learn by working together to complete hands-on assignments, with real-world business clients. Hanadi Alnawab, program coordinator of The Business School’s Digital Business Management degree program, says giving students the freedom to work directly with clients, without excessive supervision, allows them
the opportunity to develop skills that go far beyond the scope of textbooks and lectures given in the classroom. “Working within the team teaches them the technical skills,” Alnawab says. “But it also teaches them project management, collaboration, and problem-solving.” Digital Business Management program graduate Irina Gorea agrees that it’s the cultivation of these soft skills that makes Humber Online Solutions such a valuable learning experience. “It requires coordinated teamwork in order for each project to be successful,” she says. “Every one of us has different expertise and brings something unique to the team.”
| 7
THE HUMBER COMMUNITY
ILLUSTRATION: SHUTTERSTOCK / VLADGRIN
8 |
THE HUMBER COMMUNITY
Good Cop, Good Cop A NEW INVESTIGATIVE PROGRAM SHOWS STUDENTS THE REALITY OF ONLINE CRIME—THANKS TO THE VETERAN POLICE OFFICER WHO IS EAGER TO TEACH THEM By Paul Keery
IT’S NOT EASY TO STUN students in Humber’s Protection, Security & Investigation (PSI) program into shocked silence. But Detective Constable Warren Bulmer did just that in a guest lecture last March when he presented the truth about Instagram. “People think that on Instagram, you can’t download somebody’s photographs,” Bulmer says. “I showed the class that was not in fact true. Instagram actually uploads the original photograph to a server. You can access that server through the source code of the web page, and you can download it directly from the server so you have the full resolution version of the photograph.” The reaction from the class was easily measured. “I probably heard four chins hit the table when I was doing the demonstration,” Bulmer laughs. Understanding how social media really works is only one of the things that Bulmer is now teaching in the PSI program’s new Online Investigations course, in which students learn how to use the internet to gather publicly available information. Dr. Daniel Schwartz, the program coordinator for the PSI program, has worked for three years to build this new course. “Students going into the field now have a good background in traditional physical security roles, including physical evidence and surveillance techniques,” Schwartz says. “But when it comes to the online world, where so much activity is taking place, they’re not really able to apply those same investigative skills. Digital evidence is
becoming increasingly important both in the public security realm and in the private security realm.” Which is where Bulmer comes in. His lab-based Online Investigations course shows students how software can be used, for example, to record and analyze video for authenticity. They gain a new appreciation for the power of the online world—for good and bad. Bulmer emphasizes impartiality and ethics in his teaching. “Your role as an investigator is to gather evidence,” he says. “It’s not to convict. It’s to gather the evidence, analyze it to the best of your ability, present that to whoever you’re supposed to present that [to] and then defend it.” Dr. Schwartz agrees: “What we’re emphasizing is ethical, lawful investigation. We never want to make this into how to create crime. It means you have to know how it works. Otherwise you won’t be able to actually do proper investigations.” It’s a stark reality of the modern era that a lot of crime occurs in places that makes it easy to conceal. Which is why it’s so great to have an experienced teacher like Bulmer showing students how to bring it all to light. “The reality is everybody needs an investigator,” Bulmer says. “And what is not going away is the Internet.”
| 9
THE HUMBER COMMUNITY
10 |
THE HUMBER COMMUNITY
EMERGENCIES ARE THE MOTHER OF INVENTION Dennis Kappen, George Paravantes and a multidisciplinary team of students spent their summer rethinking how ambulances interact with patients and hospitals By NEXT staff
PHOTOS COURTESY OF DENNIS KAPPEN AND GEORGE PARAVANTES
| 11
THE HUMBER COMMUNITY
HILARY LEEHANE AND DENNIS KAPPEN ASSEMBLING PARAMEDIC DASHBOARD
12 |
CLOSEUP OF PARAMEDIC DASHBOARD
THE HUMBER COMMUNITY
We thought: This is cutting-edge stuff, let’s work on it with students and go along this journey with them.
3D RENDERING OF PARAMEDIC DASHBOARD BY HILARY LEEHANE
GEORGE PARAVANTES AND CHLOE CHUNG ASSEMBLING PARAMEDIC DASHBOARD
RIGHT NOW, WHEN AN AMBULANCE is dispatched because of a 911 call, the paramedics in that vehicle have only the information that was given in the call to work with. What they find when they arrive on the scene might be very different from what they were expecting. Similarly, when ambulances bring patients to hospitals, drivers have to try and relay as much information to the waiting emergency room doctors as they can. At every step, there exists the potential for misunderstandings, critical omissions, or problems due a simple lack of time. What if technology can help solve those issues? That’s the question Applied Tech professor Dennis Kappen and Media Studies professor George Paravantes—along with a trio of dedicated students—spent their summer trying to answer. What the team came up with was a way to use augmented reality to help facilitate real-time communication in emergency situations. They presented their work at the 10th International ACM Conference on Automotive User (AU) Interfaces and Interactive Vehicular Applications, held in Toronto this past September. The initial push for this multidisciplinary project came from a decidedly lo-fi source: last year’s faculty strike. Kappen and Paravantes—who have collaborated a number of times before—began discussing a new potential linkage between their respective programs while walking the picket lines. “Empty minds are the devil’s workshop,” Kappen laughs. They knew they wanted to work in the field of augmented reality—that is, interactive technology that can superimpose images and information upon a real-world view. They got in touch with three students: Dhanuska
| 13
THE HUMBER COMMUNITY
Premarantha and Chloe Chung from Paravantes’s Multimedia Design and Development program, and Hilary Leehane from Kappen’s Bachelor of Industrial Design program. All three said yes right away. The team met every Tuesday night throughout the summer, initially brainstorming ideas before landing on the scenario of an emergency vehicle delivering a patient to a hospital—an area in which very little work of this kind has been done. Both Kappen and Paravantes see their roles more as akin to coaching. “We thought: This is cutting-edge stuff, let’s work on it with students and go along this journey with them,” Paravantes says. “We wanted the students to take ownership of this entire challenge,” Kappen says. The students led the brainstorming sessions, and then took over the development of different parts of the project. “They were excited about this whole process,” Kappen adds. “It’s not like doing it for a mark.” Premarantha, who was brought into the team due to his interest in autonomous vehicles, focused on building the interface information architecture, along with high fidelity mockups. He says the experience of working on the project taught him three things: 1) the importance of pre-planning and having a Plan B; 2) how communication can lead to new opportunities; and 3) “Never be shy to ask; just be humble.” Dashboard designer Leehane says she “learned that I had capabilities that I had not really known of before.” And Clung, who designed the animation, came away from the project with a simplebut-valuable lesson: “Collaboration is key,” she says. “It sounds cliché, but I was reminded of it every time I was working on this project.”
14 |
The team got the chance to present their project and paper (“Application of Augmented Reality for Multi-Scale Interactions in Emergency Vehicles”) at the AU conference [see sidebar], but Kappen and Paravantes see the work their team did as being merely a first step. They plan to bring the work back to their respective programs, in order to inspire students and generate even more ideas and projects. They also envision future partnerships with industry in the area of augmented reality. “This, in our opinion, is a paradigm shift,” Kappen says. Paravantes makes clear that it’s the culture of Humber that made the project possible: “There was trust between faculty, students and admin to really make this successful—they see the bigger picture of it all, and where we want to go with it.”
DHANUSKA PREMARANTHA AND CHLOE CHUNG PRESENTING PARAMEDIC DASHBOARD AT AUTOMOTIVEUI 2018 CONFERENCE
CLOSE UP OF RASPBERRY PI USE IN PARAMEDIC DASHBOARD
THE HUMBER COMMUNITY
AT THE AUTOMOTIVEUI 2018, FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: DENNIS KAPPEN, DHANUSKA PREMARANTHA, CHLOE CHUNG, GEORGE PARAVANTES, AND HILARY LEEHANE
THE DESIGN TEAM HITS A MAJOR AUTO TECH CONFERENCE SOON AFTER DENNIS KAPPEN AND George Paravantes decided to collaborate on a project and to build a student team, their medium-term goal become crystal clear: present their work at the 10th International ACM Conference on Automotive User (AU) Interfaces and Interactive Vehicular Applications. “That was the catalyst,” Paravantes says. “I thought: ‘Oh my God, we have to work together on something. Let’s really push the boundaries.” They were able to attend with all three students who worked on the project. Humber College and the University of Toronto were the only Canadian postsecondary institutions in attendance. “People were intrigued by the fact that we were from academia, and yet we were able to do this…” Kappen says. He says it was a great chance to “show that Humber is not just about learning stuff—it’s about learning and doing. This is what students are capable of.”
DENNIS KAPPEN AND GEORGE PARAVANTES
| 15
NEXT TECH
16 |
NEXT TECH
AI GETS AN A+ ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IS ALTERING CAREERS AND CLASSROOMS— AND HUMBER CAN LEAD THE CHANGE By Laura Billett ILLUSTRATION: SHUTTERSTOCK / NADYA C, ALEXDNDZ. & DMI T
| 17
NEXT TECH
Artificial Intelligence often conjures images of fearsome machines that ruthlessly outsmart humans. But the reality isn’t so dramatic. AI will soon be an integral component for professionals from all industries. Health care specialists, business leaders and educators can expect to use AI technologies regularly in the coming years, and many already are. In higher education, especially, AI is not an uncontrollable usurper, but rather a tool that can enhance the teaching and learning experience. “AI can be applied to any program,” says Dr. Asem Omari, professor of Computer Science and Information Technology. “It is about data personalization and providing customized challenges for customized learning.” Omari explains that AI systems are tools that teachers can use to track and analyze students’ behaviour. AI software also provides feedback to students so that they can learn to reach solutions faster. AI can also help to diversify the learning experience. “As a teacher I have one methodology, and I apply it to all my students,” says Omari. “But that should change, and we have the systems that can change that.” Using AI, teachers can enhance learning outcomes, inspire student engagement and receive feedback in order to create more effective lessons. Even better, AI software can provide
18 |
tailored tutoring to students who struggle with concepts and who may not be able to receive the support they need from busy professors. Educators from all programs can already introduce AI into their classrooms. “It’s an additional tool to enhance their abilities to provide more options to their students,” says Georges Livanos, professor and program coordinator of Electronics in the School of Applied Technology. Livanos is spearheading the development of a new degree that will study artificial intelligence. Beginning in 2019 (at the earliest), a degree in Advanced Manufacturing with a specialization in Robotics and AI will enable students to develop industryleading skills and cultivate connections with local AI research institutes. “The future of learning is personalized learning,” says Dr. Omari. By embracing AI, Humber can be a leader in the development of what will be a whole new world of education.
NEXT TECH
What is Artificial Intelligence? Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a computer system that can perform the tasks that have historically been attributed to humans. Examples of these tasks include speech recognition, information processing (i.e. learning) and decision-making.
Using AI, teachers can enhance learning outcomes, inspire student engagement and receive feedback in order to create more effective lessons.
One application of AI currently being used is Machine Learning. This is when machines access data and learn for themselves from that data. A component of Machine Learning technology is big data analytics: when machines extract specific information from a huge amount of data for a particular purpose (e.g. to solve a problem or predict an outcome).
| 19
NEXT TECH
Open Bar A NEW HUMBER-BUILT TOOL THAT MAKES WEB SITES MORE ACCESSIBLE HAS CAUGHT THE ATTENTION OF THE MEDIA AND IMPRESSED AT CONFERENCES ACROSS NORTH AMERICA By Kristin Valois
ENSURING ACCESSIBILITY IN DIGITAL EXPERIENCES can be time-consuming—and expensive. That issue inspired Lichuan Wen, a Humber alum and a current programmer at The Centre for Teaching & Learning, to create the Accessibility Bar, a digital add-on tool that allows users to easily access online content via audio and visual enhancements. Developed with the help of the eLearning department in the CTL, the Accessibility Bar is an online text-toaudio screen reader, magnifier and an RTF/PDF print button. It’s a crossplatform, user-friendly tool that can be embedded on any website with no additional training, installation or payment required. With just three lines of code, anyone can embed the Bar into their online courses or websites. This past spring, Wen attended the League for Innovation conference in National Harbor, Maryland, to present the Accessibility Bar. The response was overwhelmingly positive. “They were blown away,” Wen says. “We spoke with one educator who said the only accessibility measure he was aware of was adding captions to YouTube videos.” The tool has even garnered interest from the CBC, which contacted
20 |
Mark Ihnat, Director, eLearning at the CTL to discuss implementing the Bar on the CBC Paralympic website. The CBC hasn’t utilized the tool on its webpages yet, but they’re intrigued, and are keeping an eye on its development. “It’s nice to be recognized,” Ihnat says. “But we’re not doing it for that reason. We’re doing it because accessibility matters.” Wen agrees: “So many people can benefit from measures that improve user experience. I really feel there is a lot of room to improve accessibility,” she says. Wen is constantly updating and improving the tool’s functionality, and most recently added French language pronunciation and a ‘skip’ feature to the text-to-audio capability. Users can now highlight material to work with within sections. Previous technology forced text-to-audio users to listen to all written material on a page in one large stream, with no option to navigate within the text. Despite all the notice her invention is getting, Wen remains modest. “I just want as many people as possible to have access to this,” she says.
NEXT TECH
View the Accessibility Bar in action at the Media Studies web site: mediastudies.humber.ca Get the Accessibility Bar: github.com/HumberCTL Listen to Lichuan Wen discuss the Accessibility Bar on NEXTcast Episode 2.2: soundcloud.com/humbernextcast/nextcast-22lichuan-wen-and-the-accessibility-bar
| 21
NEXT TECH
9
ONLINE TOOLS TO TRY IN THE CLASSROOM GO BEYOND POWERPOINT WITH THESE FUN AND EASY-TO-USE APPLICATIONS THAT GET STUDENTS’ ATTENTION By Lisa Marchildon and Kristin Valois
Evernote Use Evernote for note taking, researching, collecting and organizing material, creating lists and archiving. Evernote is powerful organizational software with collaborative capabilities. Quizlet Create study sets with flash cards and games using words, images and sounds with Quizlet. Students can use Quizlet in seven different study modes like ‘flashcard,’ ‘match,’ or ‘spell.’ Try Quizlet Live for an engaging in-class game, where teams of students compete to test their knowledge. Padlet Manage a virtual “bulletin” board that you can share with students. Upload files, links, pictures and video, or assign collaborative group work. Mindmeister Create mind maps to visually display ideas and concepts, improving the brainstorming process. This tool helps to organize ideas and discover connections, and allows students to understand the bigger picture. ILLUSTRATION: SHUTTERSTOCK / GOODSTUDIO
22 |
NEXT TECH
Google Suite Work together in real time with students on documents, spreadsheets, slide presentations, lists, forms and notes. With Google Suite, it’s easy to facilitate sharing and collaborating best practices. Blackboard Instructor Access Blackboard LMS right from your phone. It’s a convenient way to manage and view course content, and easily communicate assignment instructions or deadlines to students. Kahoot! A favourite with students, the multiple-choice games called “kahoots” are perfect for conducting unit section reviews, ice-breaker exercises, and test preparation in a fun, game-based way. Students can easily access the session through their smartphone. Use the phone for good in the classroom with Kahoot! Mentimeter This versatile presentation software allows students to actively participate in your lectures, so you can gauge understanding, participation, and comprehension. Host a competitive quiz, or get anonymous feedback. Lucidchart With Lucidchart, you can create and collaborate in real time with students to make diagrams like flowcharts, electric circuits, database diagrams, or even software prototypes. The diagrams are easily integrated into documents and presentations.
Connect with Gian Michele Pileri at GianMichele.Pileri@humber.ca to learn more, or enroll in a CTL workshop!
| 23
NEXT SCHOLARSHIP
ILLUSTRATION: ANDREA CHAN
24 |
NEXT SCHOLARSHIP
TIF Stories: Animated Videos By Damiano Passarelli
THE TEACHING INNOVATION FUND ALLOWS PARTICIPATING FACULTY TO CONDUCT RESEARCH INTO A PARTICULAR IDEA RELATED TO THE SCHOLARSHIP OF TEACHING AND LEARNING. EACH ISSUE, WE PROFILE A SUCCESSFUL TIF APPLICANT–GETTING TO KNOW THE PROJECT, THE PROCESS AND THE PERSON BEHIND BOTH AUSTIN TIAN HAS BEEN TEACHING engineering courses at the college level for close to seven years, first at Sheridan College and now in Humber’s School of Applied Technology. In that time, he’s learned a thing or two about the challenges that students face in his field—especially when it comes to engineering concepts and math skills, the very foundations of his work. “Sometimes they have a very hard time understanding the basic concepts like calculation procedures, algebra, functions, that kind of stuff,” says Tian. “They can lose their interest.” That problem is obviously not exclusive to engineering: any student intimidated by a steep learning curve is at risk of losing interest and engaging less with the course material. How to avoid the problem? Well, as every embattled parent knows, putting on a video can help. In Tian’s case he uses not just any video, but one created especially for the class and projected on the whiteboard. With the help of the Teaching Innovation Fund, Tian used whiteboard animation software called VideoScribe to create a series of four short
video lessons on topics such as Ohm’s law and op-amp circuits analysis. (Okay, not exactly Pixar.) Tian posted the videos to Blackboard throughout the course, making them available for his students to review at their leisure. Surveys conducted at the beginning and end of the course helped Tian measure the students’ reaction to the videos, which was very positive. “Most of the students felt interested in the course and realized that engineering courses are not that hard,” he says. “They can still get it.” In fact, of the 42 students who completed the second survey, 69% said they used the videos frequently, and 93% said they found them helpful. VideoScribe software is easy to learn and the videos can be reused, though to create them requires some time investment. That said, Tian believes it’s a worthwhile investment to make in students, and one more and more faculty are making. “A lot of educators are trying to use this,” he says. “I am just one of them.”
| 25
TEACHING & LEARNING EXCELLENCE
The NEXTcast Q&A IN THIS EXCERPT FROM A RECENT NEXTCAST EPISODE, PROFESSOR AND PROGRAM COORDINATOR STEVE COBER TALKS TO US ABOUT THE TRANSMEDIA FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM HE HELPED OVERSEE By NEXT Staff
26 |
TEACHING & LEARNING EXCELLENCE
Professor in the School of Media Studies and Information Technology [This interview has been edited and condensed.] NEXTcast: You wear a lot of hats. I was wondering if you could tell us what you do, and specifically what you do at Humber. Cober: I have a background in fine art and interactive design. I’ve worked for many years in marketing and advertising, and have been an entrepreneur since about the age of 17. At Humber, I teach in the Graphic Design stream, and I am the program coordinator at VADA [the Visual and Digital Arts program]. And then, this summer I co-produced the Transmedia Fellowship. NEXTcast: What exactly is the Transmedia Fellowship? Cober: The spark that gave birth the Transmedia Fellowship is the idea that we have an entire student body with an amazing range of experiences and that come from multiple backgrounds, but are also in a wide range of programs that often don’t get a chance to crossover or collaborate. The Transmedia Fellowship is a unique opportunity for students to have a paid position, and work in a possibly unconventional way with all the support of the school. Under Andrew Ainsworth, the Associate Dean, and myself and Nooreen Hussain as producers, we help the students figure out what the project could be. Our goal is really to make sure that students come out of it with an incredible work experience, and a really cool portfolio project. The stretch goal is that the project has enough impact or potential that it could be developed through research grants or through other departments, or somehow grow into the larger part of Humber life.
NEXTcast: So it’s not something that should just end the moment the fellowship is over. Cober: The goal is not to just have the project end at 14 weeks and be like, “thank you, we got it done.” It’s actually to look at it almost as a case study for an unconventional education program, where it really does work off of students’ experiences, not only in real life—whether they’ve had jobs, whether they’ve travelled, or had some other kind of education—but also from the skills they are learning at school. NEXTcast: So let’s talk about the project they worked on this summer. What was it? Cober: The project was called TOgether, and it came out of the cohort’s interest in thinking about Toronto: the multiculturalism, and the way it is to be in Toronto, where quite often there is a certain distance between us. We wanted to do a project that was about connecting people spontaneously, especially in public. So we made a public booth, almost like a two-person confessional booth, and designed it around conversation. Ideally, it’s a kind of conversation machine. We would like to develop it further for Humber. As we saw the results of the project—so many ideas came out of that. We’d like to think there is a bright future for it. soundcloud.com/humbernextcast
| 27
TEACHING & LEARNING EXCELLENCE
Ask NEXT
WE TACKLE SOME OF YOUR TRICKIEST TEACHING ISSUES By Taylor Newlands, Jorge Toro and Maria Kampen
Q
My students are big talkers, but sometimes our discussions get off track, people run a little hot, and I have to play peacemaker. How can I make students feel comfortable participating while also making sure class discussions stay on-topic?
A
First of all, this is a great problem to have. There is nothing worse than a classroom full of blank faces and mouths that won’t open. Silent students are unengaged students. However, a room full of people talking over each other, and maybe even getting into conflicts—that’s no fun, either. And it’s definitely not a good environment to learn in. (Unless you’re teaching an acting class, where lots of yelling and conflict can be just the thing.) The best way to handle a discussion that is going off the rails is to help ensure it doesn’t happen in the first place. Teachers should set expectations around what it means to PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK / STOCK_PHOTO_WORLD & ZILU8
28 |
have a discussion in their classroom, and set those expectations early on. Establishing a system for handling comments right from the start is one way to ensure that everyone has a chance to speak and no one is able to monopolize a conversation. An integral part to maintaining a safe space is making sure that the discussion includes everyone, and all voices are acknowledged and respected. To wrap up a discussion when it’s time to move on, try saying something like, “We’re going to take two more comments—maybe from somebody who hasn’t spoken yet.” That provides an opportunity for new voices to join the discussion, and signals that you’re about to move on. If a student tries to keep the discussion going, say something like, “I think we’ve touched on that. If you would like to continue that conversation, I’d be happy to chat more after class.” Having students write their thoughts down beforehand can help them be prepared and less likely to say things that might be problematic in the heat of the moment.
But like we mentioned: when it comes to classroom discussions, too much talk is better than no talk. Always encourage comments, feedback, questions and reflection. Where you draw the line between enough and too much is partly up to you, and partly up to how it affects the rest of the class.
Q
More and more, my classes are filled with International students—which is great, though I sometimes find I overdo it in trying to make them feel welcome and engaged. How do I leverage their experience and perspectives in the classroom without seeming condescending or like I am singling them out?
A
Humber enjoys the reputation of being one of Canada’s most diverse colleges, with nearly 4,000 students from more than 100 countries pursuing bachelor’s degrees, diplomas, and postgraduate certificates. Statistically speaking,
TEACHING & LEARNING EXCELLENCE
one out of every 10 students in your classrooms are likely to be from somewhere else. Considering globalization is an increasing reality, the numbers are only bound to rise. Being enthusiastic about the learning opportunities that reality presents is fantastic, but too much enthusiasm can be a bad thing. Imagine someone born in Canada is taking a class in Prague, or Hong Kong, or New Delhi, or Melbourne. Now imagine that poor student being asked every day to offer a “Canadian perspective” to the discussion. You can see how a student might feel like their teacher, however well-meaning, is having trouble seeing them without a pair of hockey skates, a toque, and a cup of Timmies. International students can offer a wealth of experience and perspectives to the class, and, in a way, a class with global diversity is a small community. But remember: one person does not represent an entire culture. Encourage your students—not just those born abroad, but everyone— to use their experience within their assignments. Embrace the diversity that each student brings to the class, instead of expecting the international students to be the outliers. Two people born and raised on the same street in Brampton can still have very different experiences and perspectives to offer. If you are still unsure how best to handle a diverse class, consider signing up for the Culturally Inclusive Educator Certificate Program offered through the CTL (it’s available as a face-to-face or online workshop). And in the meantime, try placing yourself in your students’ position: Have you been to school somewhere outside of your local community? Have you lived abroad? What did you need? How did
you cope? Often, just taking a minute to empathize and analyze the situation will help give you the ideal mindset.
Q
By the end of every semester, my desk and is so covered with assignments and hand-outs, it looks like a paper recycling plant. How do I go paper-free without losing track of everything and still maintaining meaningful engagement with my students?
A
It’s 2018. We have VR rooms and streaming services and 3-D printers and concerts by Tupac Shakur’s hologram. There are fewer and fewer reasons to weigh a course down with dead trees. The shortest and simplest answer to your problem is Blackboard, Humber’s learning management system. It’s your best ally in the fight against that evergrowing pile of paper: on Blackboard, you can post assignments, provide specific feedback, and give those pop quizzes that your students love. Even if you are teaching writing-heavy courses in the humanities or social sciences, it’s an easy switch from
collecting printed-off assignments to reading online submissions. (If you’re not yet confident using Blackboard, visit the CTL for help—no appointment necessary!) The longer answer is to explore bigger-picture solutions for a paperfree classroom. Instead of assigning textbooks, use online resources like videos, podcasts, or online articles. You’ll have a more sustainable classroom and your students will definitely be happy that you saved them some cash. Additionally, you can focus more on real-world assignments that give students the tools they’ll need to succeed even after they’ve left the classroom. Send them to networking events, have them build something, or even teach them how to use different types of creative software that will give them a boost in their future careers. Sustainability is one of the guiding principles here at Humber. When you demonstrate these values to your students, they are more likely to practice sustainability in other courses and in their careers. Your desk will thank you.
| 29
TEACHING & LEARNING EXCELLENCE
HUMBER FACULTY HAVE ADVANCED AND SHARED THEIR KNOWLEDGE IN A VARIETY OF WAYS THIS PAST YEAR PUBLICATIONS David Bezmogis published “Little Rooster” and “How It Used To Be” in Zoetrope: All-story, “A Writer Visits Latvia In Search of Her Roots,” in The New York Times, Introduction to The Nachman Stories and was published in The Displaced: Refugee Writers on Refugee Lives. Kathryn Filsinger published the 4th edition of Employment Law for Business and Human Resources Professionals. Hussam Jawad had his paper, “Improving Supply Chain Sustainability Using Exergy Analysis” published in the scientific journal, European Journal of Operational Research. Dennis Kappen and George Paravantes, in collaboration with two media studies students, Dhanuska Premarantha, Chloe Chung, and SAT student Hilary Leehane, had their demo paper accepted into Automotive UI 2018. See cover story p. 10.
30 |
Nabeel Mandahawi’s recent research paper has been published in the International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance. Adrianna Mema’s paper, “Answering the Challenges of Health and Safety for the Small Contractor” has recently been accepted by The International Forum on Engineering Education for presentation and publication in conference proceedings. Soheila Pashang co-authored Today’s Youth and Mental Health Hope, Power, Resilience. Pashang also co-authored “The Mental Health Impact of Cyber Sexual Violence (CyberSV) Against Emerging Young Women (EYW).” Meaghan Strimas co-edited (with the late Priscila Uppal) Another Dysfunctional Cancer Poem Anthology. Alissa York’s essay “Disappearing Acts” was published in Issue 145 of The New Quarterly.
TEACHING & LEARNING EXCELLENCE
RECOGNITION
Mike Dover presented a talk on his Humber Press book, Infinite Monkeys at the PZ Marketing Summit in Istanbul, Turkey.
Angela DeMontigny received the Mind Body and Spirit 2018 Award from the Brilliant Minded Women Organization.
Jennie Grimard co-presented “Making Accessible Media: Teaching Without a Teacher” at the League of Innovations Annual Conference in National Harbor, Maryland.
Pierre-Pascal Gendron was appointed Visiting Scholar with the Fiscal Affairs Department at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington, D.C.
Leila Kelleher presented “The Lab Flip: Flipping the Lab-based Course” at the League of Innovations Annual Conference in National Harbor, Maryland.
Farah Jamal Karmali was appointed as a Deputy Judge of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice (Small Claims). Farah’s book, Corporate Law for Ontario Businesses, 2nd Ed. has been adopted as the official text to teach Corporate Law for the Institute of Law Clerks of Ontario.
Cheryl Mitchell presented ‘What Does an Entrepreneur Student Want?’ at the Annual Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centres (GCEC) Conference in Chicago, and “Beyond the Pitch: Enhancing Entrepreneurial Learning” at the Annual Conference of the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ISSOTL), in Bergen, Norway.
Larry MacInnis won three Crystal Awards for best radio commercial, station promotion and public service announcement. Leanne Milech was awarded the “Best Story by an Emerging Writer Award” in the Carter V. Cooper Short Fiction Competition. Don (Monty) Montgomery received the Honorary Degree Award with the School of HRT. Jayme Poisson won the Hillman Prize for her work with David Bruser at the Toronto Star, reporting on Grassy Narrows. Jason Powell received his doctorate after successfully defending his thesis, “Explaining Collaboration in Collaborative Nursing Education Programs in Ontario.” Richard Warnica was nominated for a National Newspaper Award for Best Long Feature.
Alena Papayanis presented “Feedback Culture: the benefits, drawbacks and nuances of process-based assessment” at the Annual Conference of the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education in Sherbrooke, Quebec. Adam Thomas presented “Learning Code through Tangible Aids” at the Annual Conference of the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education in Sherbrooke, Quebec and “Learning Through Play” at the League of Innovations Annual Conference in National Harbor, Maryland. Vanessa Vilic-Evangelista presented “Real-World Clients: The Synergy of Active Student Engagement” at the League of Innovations Annual Conference in National Harbor, Maryland. Anne Zbitnew co-presented “Making Accessible Media: Teaching Without a Teacher” at the League of Innovations Annual Conference in National Harbor, Maryland.
CONFERENCES Ionela Bacain and Fabian Marks presented on various business topics with a focus on Responsibility and Impact at International Masters Week at IMC University in Krems, Austria. Francisca Burg-Feret presented “Two Traveling Tales: Interprofessional Health Sciences Education in Guatemala” at the League of Innovations Annual Conference in National Harbor, Maryland.
| 31
NEXTcast is a new podcast about teaching and learning at Humber College. Hear from faculty and staff who are engaging learners, solving common teaching problems, and bringing polytechnic education to a whole new level. New episodes drop every second Tuesday on Soundcloud and iTunes. soundcloud.com/humbernextcast bit.ly/HumberNextCast
humber literary review we live subscribe and save Over 15 + read here One year (2 issues) // Only 12 %
$
v i s i t h u m b e r l i t e r a ry r e v i e w.c O m f O r d e ta i l s
$7.95
$7.95
me 1 3 volu 2016 issue summer + spring
me 2 2 volu 16 issue r 2015/ winte fall +
$7.95
me 2 3 volu 17 issue r 2016/ winte fall +
& ska // fiction low Byd ofie ld ita Jowkan a sch & ana ell // poetry ie how n stevk sam pso mar i // essays ill & t cah tett mat mia fan iew interv eufe ws // am toe miri // art ter wal lisa n // comic riso har teva
n
Dou sou
Tra
gl as
van
Cam
Cou
kha
ill a
vis
pl anD
m Tha
gibb
sCh
mm
// inter
illi
ng
// fictio avo
ngs
poetr a //
y
ers // st winn der n conte fictio a Wil first th, // our ny smi Geo rGi & y tta rke // poetr Bri ak Jain Cla mah iot eGr ove ell lov rGe Geo nif er tt s & Jen iCo view end // inter ina eW mar kin art & WaB d // lan dor kim
view
// art
Onl ine exclus iv e cOn t en t a d d ed r egul a r ly at:
h u m b e r l i t e r a r y r e v i e w. c o m
32 |
D E PA R T M E N T OF ENGLISH
After nearly a decade of driving innovation at Humber, Eileen DeCourcy (who started this very magazine) has left to become the Senior Vice President, Academic at St. Lawrence College A trailblazer. A visionary. Driven. Thoughtful. These are the words that best describe Eileen DeCourcy. When we think of the range of initiatives she championed here, and the ripples and waves they generated across the Humber community, we are confident that her impact will continue to be felt for a long time to come. Eileen transformed the culture of teaching and learning at Humber, first as the Director of Professional Development in the CTL, and more recently as Associate Vice President, Teaching & Learning. As an educational developer, Eileen inspired faculty to be bold in their teaching: to innovate, experiment, and be intentional in their practice. She established the Teaching Innovation Fund, enabling faculty to explore new ideas and approaches. She developed the wide array of workshops, certificate programs and conferences that characterize the CTL today. She advocated for authentic, learner-centred assessment, and insisted on excellence in the teaching profession.
| 33
TRANSFORM YOUR TEACHING & LEARNING JOURNEY WITH US Take one or all four of our certificates to enrich your professional development: INCLUSIV E CURRICUL AR DE SIGN CE R TIFICATE
CU LTUR ALLY INCLUSIV E E DUCATOR CE R TIFICATE
humber.ca/centreforteachingandlearning/ Accredited by:
Introducing Panopto: Humber’s new video streaming platform The world’s top institutions are already using Panopto, and we can’t wait for you to discover the many ways that it can help you innovate in teaching and learning.
Launching Winter 2019 Email panopto@humber.ca for more information or to request early access.
TE ACHING E F F ECTIVE NE S S CE R TIFICATE
TE ACHING IN A DIGITAL WORLD
Tell us your story Humber NEXT is an amalgamation of the dynamic work that staff, faculty and students are producing. This is your magazine. You help define Humber, so let us produce your story. Share with us your exciting classroom experiences and innovative teaching techniques, and get a chance to be featured in NEXT. We want to fill pages with your vibrant content—with interviews, events, success stories, new technologies and new initiatives at Humber.
Promote what you’re working on. Speak about your passion for teaching. Share your teaching methodologies. Illustrate your experiences. Express what motivates you. Tell us what’s NEXT on the horizon at Humber. Submit your ideas to humberpress@humber.ca
humberpress.com @humberpress