Fall 2016/Winter 2017
TRÈS BIEN ENSEMBLE
OLD BRICKS, NEW IDEAS
GOOD READS
Humber’s Institution-Wide Video Streaming Platform
The Lakeshore Campus’s Centre For Entrepreneurship
Two Provocative New Books From Humber Press
GIVING STUDENTS FREEDOM TO BUILD See p.26 for the full story
CONTENTS 3
Letter from Eileen
Humber Gets Noticed 4
Truth and Lies at the Liberal Arts @ IFOA Conference
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Humber Students’ Prize-Winning Eco-Design
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The Humber Community 8
Meet Andrew Ness, the New Dean of International
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The New Centre for Entrepreneurship
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Humber Grads and Industry Professionals Help Game Programming Students
NEXT Tech 16
Ensemble, Humber’s New Video Streaming Platform
NEXT Scholarship 18
Scholarly Writing Boot Camp Gives Profs Time and Space to Create
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Two Provocative New Books from Humber Press
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TIF Stories: Measuring Student Engagement in the HIVES
Teaching & Learning Excellence 26
A Hands-Off New Continuing Education Course for Design Students
COVER PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK
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Faculty Awards and Achievements
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Faculty Publications and Other Activities
A SPECIAL THANK YOU FOR YOUR CREATIVE CONTRIBUTIONS:
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Ask NEXT
Humber Journalism students Tierney Angus, Alexa Dimitruk and Clement Goh. Nathan Whitlock, Managing Editor, Humber Press Dekel Chui and Andrea Chan, Graphic Designers, The Centre for Teaching & Learning Darren Richards, Manager, Creative Productions, The Centre for Teaching & Learning
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This year ushers in milestone moments for both Canada and Humber College. In 2017, our country will proudly celebrate its sesquicentennial, and, closer to home, Humber will commemorate its 50th anniversary. While we prepare for the future, it is incumbent upon us to reflect on the past and recognize our collective accomplishments. Over the last 50 years, there are copious examples of Humber faculty making a difference in the lives of their students and communities. Humber students have contributed their knowledge, skill and talents both locally and globally to the betterment of humanity. As we look forward to the next 50 years, I would like to thank those giants who have come before us to pave the way for innovative teaching and learning. I would also like to recognize the giants among us who continue to imagine, dream and design learning for tomorrow’s world. You will recognize their stories and see their accomplishments in this issue of NEXT. Enjoy the read!
Eileen de Courcy Associate Vice President, Teaching & Learning
P.S. Look for special 50th anniversary retrospectives in upcoming issues of NEXT.
LETTER FROM EILEEN | 3
AUTHOR CHRIS HEDGES
PHOTOS COURTESY OF DANIEL HAMBLY AND LIBERAL ARTS @ IFOA CONFERENCE YOUTUBUE
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THE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE ANNUAL “LIBERAL ARTS @ IFOA” CONFERENCE CONFRONTED THE REALITY OF A POST-FACT WORLD – AND HOW TEACHERS AND SCHOOLS SHOULD RESPOND TO IT By Tierney Angus
HUMBER’S SCHOOL OF LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES hosted the third annual interdisciplinary conference on the topic of “Truth, Lies and Manufacturing Memory” at 2016’s International Festival of Authors (IFOA). The conference, which took place in late October at Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre, brought together dozens of Canadian and international scholars to speak about, and ponder, the evermore urgent need to separate fact from fiction. The conference was organized by professor Daniel Hambly. He sees the topic as one that should be on the minds of all thinkers. Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist and author Chris Hedges was the conference’s keynote speaker. His lecture, “The Price of Truth in Journalism in a Post-Fact World,” was an
excellent fit, according to Hambly. “Trying to sort through the vast array of information available to people now, in the internet age, trying to seek truth – I think it’s all very important,” Hambly says. “Chris Hedges was the perfect person to kick off this conference.” Hambly sees idea of a post-fact world as being about more than just fact-checking politicians or journalists – it is the core challenge of all educators. “We’re living in an interesting time, and as academics we are inherently truth-seekers,” he says. “We may not actually figure the truth out, but we attempt through academic research to come close to the truth. Humber has a responsibility to teach students who become citizens of Canada and the world the tools to seek the truth.”
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MAKING IT REAL THREE HUMBER STUDENTS WIN A COMPETITION THAT CONNECTS INTERIOR DESIGN WITH THE OUTSIDE WORLD By Tierney Angus
A TRIO OF ECO-MINDED AND CREATIVE HUMBER STUDENTS have taken the top prize in a design competition organized by Indoor Nature Design Inc. (INDI), a non-profit organization that aims to solve the problem of human disconnect with nature by bringing the outdoors in. Karen White, who teaches Interdisciplinary Practices, structured the course for her interior design students to allow them to take part in the competition without losing focus on their studies. This encouraged students to partner with students in other disciplines and find experts in related fields. “The competition was great because I can support [students] and give them a lot of freedom,” says White.
“I’m not a studio teacher who’s marking their results, I’m mentoring them through a process and supporting them with expertise.” White sees the competition as “a challenge that forced [students] to think about organic components in their design. They had to think about how this interior ecosystem would live.” The winning design, created by students Rami Dawood, Arasta Kadir and Emma Christensen, consisted of three giant, translucent globes, specifically envisioned for installation in a community centre. One globe would contain a freshwater ecosystem containing fish and aquatic plants, a second globe would support California red worms as well as strawberry and sweet pea plants, and the third globe would feature an air purifier and a medium for growing wheatgrass. The self-contained system would be paired with viewing benches and interpretive touchscreens to encourage engagement with the system by viewers, especially children. It’s a bold idea, and even if it never gets created in real life, just designing it has given three students a better sense of what is possible. A video by the students explaining their winning design can be found here: youtu.be/2GhyM8hYBFE
IMAGES COURTESY OF RAMI DAWOOD, EMMA CHRISTENSEN, AND ARASTA KADIR
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They had to think about how this interior ecosystem would live
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NESS IS MORE MEET ANDREW NESS, THE GLOBETROTTING NEW DEAN OF INTERNATIONAL By Alexa Dimitruk
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LOOKING AROUND ANDREW NESS’S OFFICE, it is obvious he has been to more than a few places around the world. The desk and shelves of the new Dean of International are full of little knick-knacks you can’t help but notice and wonder where they came from. “I have tons!” admits Ness. “A bunch of this stuff has travelled with me.” He says his favourite is probably the Buddhist mindfulness bell. Now that he has settled into his new office, after being appointed in August, Ness is most mindful of his mission at Humber. “It’s not just recruiting students,” he says. “It’s exchanges and short-term education and really deep partnerships with a small number of very good schools.” At a moment when global outlooks seem to be in short supply – at least in certain parts of the political world, Ness feels that engaging with other countries and cultures is a critical part of 21st-century learning. “Our students need these opportunities to be open to the world, so the fact that Humber has embraced it is really exciting.” Ness has over 30 years experience in higher education. He was a music student when he landed a co-op job recruiting students for the university he was attending. “I started to really enjoy that work and had some success in it, and from that co-op experience built a career working in colleges and universities,” he says. “The benefit of having worked at a whole bunch of different institutions is that I have significant collective experience of how higher education works. I’ve seen lots of scenarios related to what I do here that will help me make good decisions.” Ness says he is eager to connect with faculty. He plans to work toward understanding how they do what they do. “What’s really magical in the classroom?” he asks. “It may be the seat, it may be the room, the faculty member, the technology, or the way they’re getting students to question. People like me need to learn that stuff.”
We wear different costumes, we have different cultures but we all aspire to the same end. 10 |
Ness’s travels – and the curiosity he has about others – will likely be his biggest asset as he takes on the crucial role of connecting Humber faculty and students with the rest of the globe. “The more I travel the more I realize that people are the same,” Ness says. “We wear different costumes, we have different cultures, but we all aspire to the same end. There’s so much opportunity that often we don’t take enough time and we don’t think enough or see past the costumes or the cultures or the differences to understand that we’re really all the same.”
TOP: ANDREW NESS ABOVE: NESS’S VARIOUS KNICK-KNACKS
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OLD BRICKS, NEW IDEAS A CENTURY-OLD BUILDING ON HUMBER’S LAKESHORE CAMPUS IS NOW THE HIGH-TECH CENTRE FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP By Alexa Dimitruk
ONE OF THE HISTORIC BUILDINGS ON Humber’s Lakeshore Campus was recently transformed into the new Centre for Entrepreneurship. What was previously the staid, old G Building is – as of last fall – a vibrant and high-tech hive of study rooms and multipurpose spaces. Peter Madott, the Associate Dean of the Business School, was instrumental in creating this centre for students. A few years ago, Madott put forth a proposal for just such a spot. “The idea behind it would be that it would be dedicated towards improving opportunities and training in entrepreneurship for our students,” he says. The idea was well-timed. “As it turned out, the college had been looking at what to do with G Building,” Madott says. Right away, he and his colleagues saw an opportunity to make the Centre for Entrepreneurship a reality, and reworked the original proposal to include specific plans for transforming the old building. One of the main features of the new centre is the event area. Located at the front of the building, it was designed to be a multipurpose space. Madott describes it as a “town hall,” set up with big comfy chairs and high ceilings that can also easily be transformed into an event space. “The room is proving to be very popular,” Madott says. “There’s been a number
of different seminars and conferences that have been run through there already.” The new Centre looks great on the outside, but the way it looks on the inside is what makes it special. The G Building was built over a hundred years ago, and the support walls were reinforced with layers of brick. While renovating it, they realized the brick had to stay in order to keep the structure intact. The result? An interior full of exposed brick. “We’re the first people in over 100 years to see that brick,” says Madott. “It was all covered over. It’s beautiful.” Another great feature is the building’s finished attic – the only one of its kind on the Lakeshore campus. It has been transformed into a meeting space for students. Alexandra Wilson, a Humber business student, says that the Centre for Entrepreneurship attic is already her favourite place to study on the whole campus. She especially likes all the exposed brick inside: “I really love how it kind of shows the history of the school,” she says. Madott says the building is still undergoing some finishing touches, but so far he is happy with how the Centre for Entrepreneurship is being used. “Students walk through and start using the space and hanging out, which is exactly what we wanted to have happen,” he says.
ABOVE: PETER MADOTT
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EVENT PHOTOS OF CENTRE FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP OPENING COURTESY OF NADIA ARAUJO
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EVENT PHOTOS COURTESY OF MEENA DOWLWANI AND MICHAEL WRIGHT
GAMING THE SYSTEM THE “HUMBER STORIES” EVENT HELPS STUDENTS ENGAGE WITH INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS AND FORMER GRADS By Clement Goh
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PICTURE THIS: A STUDENT IS STARTING HER FIRST YEAR IN a game programming course. One day, professionals from high-profile gaming companies arrive on campus, eager to hand out cards and share their stories. They aren’t here to dish out swag and gossip, though. Instead, they’re here to give that student a chance at a first job. This is what happens at “Humber Stories,” an event that happens a few times a year, in which gaming industry professionals (many of whom are Humber alumni) are invited to share their experiences and insights in order to help prepare students for the dive into the workforce. The event is the brainchild of Meena Dowlwani, a parttime job developer and game programming professor. According to Dowlwani, familiar names such as RBC,
WilsonHCG and Ubisoft are among the companies who take part in the visits. She says that those close industry links are part of the reason that, for the first time in the college’s history, “more than 80% of our game programmers are employed within their dream jobs.” Aakash Brar, a former Computer Science student, gives full credit to these kinds of initiatives for his current job. “They were really helpful, in every way,” Brar says. “There were many events: teaching us how to get interviews, how to present your resume and how to present yourself.” A part of Humber’s mission is to connect students with employers, which means reaping the seeds of the past through connections with successful alumni. The “Humber Stories” event is just one example of that plan in action. It’s a game in which everyone wins.
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TRÈS BIEN ENSEMBLE HUMBER FINALLY HAS AN INSTITUTION-WIDE PLATFORM FOR STREAMING AND SHARING EDUCATIONAL VIDEO CONTENT By NEXT Staff
INCLUDING A SHORT VIDEO IN YOUR LESSON PLAN IS SIMPLE, RIGHT? Just search on YouTube, pick something that looks fun and press Play. Instant video content! But wait: is the video content properly aligned with course outcomes? Does it violate copyright? Is it in compliance with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA)? Can you make it part of a course-specific playlist? Can you easily share it with students through Blackboard? Can you share it easily through social media? Is it mobile-compatible? Chances are the answer to at least one of those questions is no. Which is where Ensemble Video comes in. Ensemble is a new Humber-wide video streaming platform that allows faculty to easily upload, stream, caption and annotate educational video content.
tline? u o e cours ight? copyr iant? l p m co AODA oard? b k c a Bl
The Ensemble platform, which launched in the fall, is an initiative of the Academic and Educational Technology Committee. The committee spent a year surveying and interviewing faculty on the their video needs and researching available software solutions. After narrowing the choices to three existing platforms, the committee chose Ensemble. It edged out the others based on its ease of use, and because it worked well on most devices and connected with Humber’s existing digital infrastructure.
and launching Ensemble. Richards feels the rollout “has been pretty smooth,” given the vastness of the platform’s scope and its potential to help faculty. So far, he says, there’s been a lot of excitement from faculty about it.
Humber Librarian Lisa DiBarbora and Darren Richards, the head of the Centre for Teaching and Learning’s Creative Studio, were instrumental in selecting, testing
Richards stresses that the version of Ensemble that is currently being used is only in Phase 1. Once he and DiBarbora are able to assess how the platform is working
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and how faculty are engaging with it, they’ll be able to tweak it and build its capacity. “We really want faculty to use it and tell us what they think,” he says. To that end, the committee is developing ways to collect and assess user feedback. The platform contains a lot of in-built user assistance, including ways to assess a given video’s copyright status, but Richards recommends that interested faculty attend one of the Ensemble-specific
workshops offered through the CTL. (Richards also likes to remind faculty that the best way to get video content that aligns with course outcomes is to make their own with the help of the Creative Studio.) F aculty can check out Ensemble Video at stream.humber.ca
ILLUSTRATION: SHUTTERSTOCK
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GET AWAY AND GET WRITING ANNUAL SCHOLARLY WRITING BOOT CAMPS HELP FACULTY FIND THE RIGHT WORDS By Tierney Angus
WRITING IS EASY. Finding the time, a place and the right atmosphere to do it? That’s trickier. That’s why, for two years now, Heidi Marsh has organized Scholarly Writing Boot Camps through Humber’s Centre for Teaching & Learning. The camps provide participants with a chance to work on writing projects in a distractionfree, retreat-like setting. “Faculty are doing lots of amazing things in terms of research in their classrooms, in terms of credentials, and yet they’re hugely busy with their teaching loads,” says Marsh, who heads up the CTL’s Scholarship of Teaching and Learning initiative. “These boot camps are a chance for people to make a commitment to spend a really consolidated, intense chunk of time to make some real progress.” Modelled after a similar on-campus program at Pennsylvania’s Bucknell University, the Humber Scholarly Writing Boot Camps take place at Horseshoe Valley Resort over a period of two-and-a-half days. Dedicated hour-and-a-half silent writing periods are broken up with goal-setting workshops, communal meals and sharing sessions and an opportunity to take advantage of the nature trails surrounding the resort. By holding the Boot Camp at a location off campus and in a natural setting, participants are able to shut out distractions and create their own community of writers from across the many different schools within the Humber community. 18 |
Faculty who attended a camp have nothing but praise for the retreat. “It was both a nurturing and productive time with other scholars, with many opportunities to discuss the writing process,” says participant Jennie Miron from the School of Health Sciences. “It was truly an interprofessional experience.” The Boot Camp session in October resulted in approximately 43,000 words written by 10 participants. Three completed drafts of chapters for doctoral degrees, four scholarly journal articles, and two book chapters were completed. Additional writing included grant applications, conference papers, research proposals and reports. “It’s amazing how much you can get done in a small amount of time when that’s all you’re focused on it and it’s quiet,” says Marsh. “It’s like, Whoa! I just wrote five, six, seven pages – in only an hour and a half! And it goes by so quickly, but you get so much done.” The Writing Boot Camp is proving to be very popular: the most recent session had a waitlist. “The most common piece of feedback we get at the end of the Boot Camps is that [participants] wish it were longer,” says Marsh. “We’re going to be looking at making it three full days next time.”
The most common piece of feedback we get at the end of the Boot Camps is that [participants] wish it were longer
PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK
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GOOD READS
HUMBER PRESS RELEASES TWO PROVOCATIVE NEW BOOKS BY PROFESSORS MIKE DOVER AND MICHAEL BALDWIN By Clement Goh
THIS PAST FALL, HUMBER PRESS LAUNCHED TWO BRAND NEW BOOKS BY HUMBER FACULTY, each with its own intriguing and industry-specific content. Dante’s Infinite Monkeys: Technology Meets the 7 Deadly Sins by Mike Dover, a Business School professor, discusses how the evolution of technology not only empowers humans in extending their connections to the world, but also how such a change can bring unintended – even dire – consequences. In it, the seven deadly sins are closely compared with the impacts of technology on society, the economy, the military, even our own sexuality. According to Dover, the book raises many philosophical questions that might cause readers to re-evaluate their own ethics and morals. “We’re more open-society than we’ve ever been,” he says. “Anything you type, even if it’s
a private tweet or a private email, can be hacked.” He adds: “If we live longer lifespans, what does that mean? Is poverty something that could be improved by things like 3D printing?” Among the numerous experts featured in the book, Dover interviewed a former US Special Forces assassin, as well as an expert on robotics. It delves deep into the evils of the Dark Web and the notion of online morality. “The book is humorous, but also scary, so maybe people are going to be making their passwords more secure,” says Dover. The other new title from Humber Press is Drawing the Line: The How-to-Draw Book, by Michael Baldwin, a Graphic Design professor in the School for Applied Technology. Drawing the Line offers a fully illustrated experience and, like Dante’s Infinite Monkeys, questions many of the | 21
implicit assumptions of the digital age – this time from an artist’s perspective. Originally self-published in 2006, this reimagined and re-designed version has been updated to fit the high-tech classroom. Drawing the Line has a back-to-basic approach, and extols the importance of applying pencil to paper. As an arts designer for many years, Baldwin argued that drawing skills are useful for any design discipline. Although he believes that drawing could be a slow process at first, it can easily transform into an intimate passion. “You can function as a designer without good drawing skills,” says Baldwin. “But the odds of you succeeding are directly related to your ability to represent ideas cost-effectively on a piece of paper.”
MIKE DOVER
Numerous graphic examples from the book were designed in an approachable fashion to make the reader want to pick up a pencil and start creating right away. Baldwin says the book aims to push past intricate obstacles and to inspire viewers in being adventurous while making brave, creative decisions. “On the keyboard, two hours can go by really quickly and you may have only one piece of work, and it looks like 10 other students doing the same thing,” says Baldwin. “We don’t want that. We want different, and drawing can start that.” Dante’s Infinite Monkeys and Drawing the Line were both launched in Humber’s North Space Gallery in November. Both are available through HumberPress.com.
The book is humorous, but also scary, so maybe people are going to be making their passwords more secure.
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MICHAEL BALDWIN
The odds of you succeeding are directly related to your ability to represent ideas cost-effectively on a piece of paper
EVENT PHOTOS FROM HUMBER PRESS BOOK LAUNCH
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THE TEACHING INNOVATION FUND ALLOWS PARTICIPATING FACULTY TO CONDUCT RESEARCH INTO A PARTICULAR ISSUE RELATED TO THE SCHOLARSHIP OF TEACHING AND LEARNING. IN THIS BRAND NEW NEXT MAGAZINE FEATURE, WE WILL BE PROFILING A SUCCESSFUL TIF APPLICANT IN EVERY ISSUE - GETTING TO KNOW THE PROJECT, THE PROCESS AND THE PERSON BEHIND BOTH By Clement Goh
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CHRISTINE MCCAW HAS HER MIND ON STUDENT ENGAGEMENT in the digital age. As program coordinator for the Business Marketing program, McCaw has been curious about how students react to new, tech-enabled forms of teaching, and so applied to the Teaching Innovation Fund to help her explore the issue. Her project set up a head-to-head comparison between student experiences in the HIVES classrooms and in traditional classrooms. She had two sections of a Retail Marketing course, taught by her, scheduled in the two different types of learning spaces. At first, McCaw thought the traditional space would be a better fit for the students. “When you come into the classroom at the beginning of the semester, you kind of get a feeling for your class,” says McCaw.
“Is this class going to be excited? Are they going to be not as engaged?” As the semester wore on, however, her thoughts changed – especially as the results of her study began to show more interest in the high-tech, practicecentred setting of the HIVES. McCaw’s research spurred her to request more collaborative classrooms. She is teaching her current students entirely in this style. “I think that I’m more of an advocate now for trying new things, for not being afraid of testing out something new with my students,” she says. “I definitely use technology more.” F or more information on the Teaching Innovation Fund, go to humber.ca/centreforteachingandlearning
PHOTOS OF HIVES CLASSROOMS
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THEY WILL COME AND BUILD IT A NEW CONTINUING EDUCATION PROGRAM GIVES DESIGN STUDENTS THE FREEDOM TO CREATE NEW PRODUCTS AND TRY NEW IDEAS By Alexa Dimitruk
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INDUSTRIAL DESIGN STUDENTS ARE GETTING THE OPPORTUNITY to take their product ideas to the next level thanks to a new continuing education course called Product Development, Prototyping and Entrepreneurship. The course, which was offered for the first time this past summer, was created so that students can gain experience in a workshop and, if they wish, create a product they can sell. The new course differs from typical industrial design courses in that it encourages students to use the workshop for personal projects. Dan Pryce, who taught the program’s first cohort, says that freedom is at the core of the course. “We aren’t saying ‘Design a chair.’ We’re saying ‘Whatever you want to work on, go for it,’” Pryce says. “So they get to explore their own design and enjoy their own ideas for once.” Pryce knows the value of having that freedom. He’s a part-time instructor who runs his own business. “I’ve been through designing products, having products manufactured, retailing products and how to run a retail store online,” he says. “So I’ve done it all.” Although there is yet to be a product that has been taken further than the classroom, there was one standout success story among the first group of projects: Aaron Bayle, an industrial design student, created wedding rings for him and his fiancé in the workshop. They wear them every day. “I also worked on some knick-knacks for the wedding, because we were doing our wedding on a budget,” Bayle says. “I made name place holders for tables, different things for center pieces on our tables – a lot of little wood-working projects.” Joshua Solomon, another industrial design student who went through the first course, has already developed a list of product ideas he hopes to bring to the course next summer. “It was the first stage in taking my idea, doing something I wanted to do, and seeing the completion,” said Solomon. “Knowing what I know now, I think I could take it a lot further.”
Whatever you want to work on, go for it PHOTOS OF PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT, PROTOTYPING AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP CLASSROOM WORKSHOP
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HERE ARE SOME OF THE HUMBER FACULTY WHO HAVE RECENTLY BEEN RECOGNIZED AS LEADERS
THE
The 2017 John & Suanne Roueche Excellence Awards were given to Steve Bang, Judy Charles, Cheryl Francis Nurse, Nick Palazzo, John Stilla, Louise Zimanyi and Julie Zomparelli
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Aliya Dalfen, Mike Karapita, Lara McInnis, Carolyn Smith and Susan Topping were given Distinguished Faculty Awards by Humber President Chris Whitaker. (A complete list of Recognition Award winners can be found at humber.ca.) John Bourgeois was honoured with the League for Innovation of the Year Award 2016. Humber Innovation Awards for 2016 were given to Alvina Cassiani, Tony Nuccitelli, Magno Cidade, Michael Thomas, Rebecca Muyal and Adrian Venuti. Johanne Hayes received the National Institute for Staff Organizational Development (NISOD) Award for Excellence in Teaching. Brenda Ridley received the CE Teaching Excellence Award. Sharon Broughton, Lisa Giallonardo, Lesley Smith-Stoltz, Sandra Filice, Jennie Miron and Marilyn Teitlebaum achieved PhD status.
ILLUSTRATION: SHUTTERSTOCK
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OUT & ABOUT HUMBER FACULTY HAVE ADVANCED AND SHARED THEIR KNOWLEDGE IN A VARIETY OF WAYS THIS YEAR PUBLICATIONS Daniel Bear published “The Need to Create a Narrative: Examining the Justifications Police Used to Target Drugs in the Lead Up to the 2011 London Riots” in Police Practice and Research. Sharon Broughton co-wrote “Predictors of Family Health and Well-Being After Separation from an Abusive Partner: Role of Coercive Control, Mother’s Depression and Social Support” for the Journal of Clinical Nursing. Maria-Lucia DiPlacito published “Acknowledge the Barriers to Better the Practices: Support for Student Mental Health in Higher Education” in the Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.
Jeff Latosik had work included in the Best Canadian Poetry 2016 anthology. Canisia Lubrin’s poetry appeared in the 50th anniversary issue of This magazine and in Arc magazine. Meaghan Strimas published Yes Or Nope, her third collection of poetry. Liudi Xia co-wrote “Prenatal education: Program Content and Preferred Delivery Method from the Perspective of the Expectant Parents” for The Journal of Perinatal Education.
ILLUSTRATION: SHUTTERSTOCK
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CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS Joanna Amirault presented “In With a Boom and Out With a Bang: Exploring the Life Cycle of a Terrorist Campaign” at the 66th Annual American Society of Criminology Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana. Sharon Broughton presented “The impacts of mothering on women’s engagement with the ICAN Plan 4 Safety Intervention Study” at the 29th Annual Nursing Research Conference at Western University in London. Ontario. Francisca Burg-Feret co-presented “Interprofessional Health Sciences Students Explore Cultural Humility in Guatemala: An Appreciative Inquiry” at the CASN Canadian Nursing Education Conference in Toronto. Jeff Caldwell presented “Using 3D Print Technology in the Mortuary Sciences” at the StemTech Conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Rosalina Chiovitti presented “Professionhood and professionalism as educational aids to replicate life-long learning for nursing students’ development and renewal of self and profession” at the CASN Canadian Nursing Education Conference in Toronto. Rosalina Chiovitti co-presented “Online reflective journaling in graduate nursing education” for the University of New Brunswick Faculty of Nursing Research’s 21st Annual Research Day.
Paul Jeffrey presented “Guideline to Improve a Practical Nursing Program’s Admission Test” to the Midwest Nursing Research Society in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Colin Macrae presented “Are you ready for PrEP?” to the Canadian Association of Nurses in Aids Care in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Jennie Miron presented “Academic integrity: from education to career - We all have a positive, important role to play” for the Central Michigan University Scholar Series. Maha Salman presented “Sustainable and Smart: Rethinking what a smart home is” at the Information and Communication Technology for Sustainability conference in Amsterdam, Holland, for which she was given the conference’s Best Paper Award. Kathleen White-Williams co-presented “Exploring barriers and facilitators to nursing faculty engaging in research and the role of library services” at the CASN Canadian Nursing Education Conference in Toronto. Christine Zupo presented “Student perceptions of engaging in intentional happiness intervention activities” at Exhilarate 2016 in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.
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ASK NEXT WE TACKLE SOME OF YOUR TRICKIEST TEACHING ISSUES
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Q
I like to use short videos that help explain or contextualize whatever concept we are exploring in class. I have been told that some of the video content I have on my list contains ideas or language that might be seen as controversial. I don’t want to upset anyone, but also don’t want to have to search for all-new content when the videos I have had been working so well. Do I find new ones or show them anyway (maybe with a general warning beforehand)?
A
As much as students love the sound of their professor’s voice droning on and on, using video content to help enhance a lesson and to engage techfriendly learners is a great idea – and should be part of every teacher’s delivery method. Sometimes a five-minute YouTube video can clarify a difficult lesson better than any lecture or PowerPoint presentation. Many learners absorb ideas visually as well, if not better, than they do through reading or discussion. So yes to using videos in class! (May we suggest checking out Ensemble Video, a new cross-institutional video streaming platform for Humber faculty? See p.16 for more details.)
But while the idea of video-enhanced discussions is in general a good one, using videos that might make some students uncomfortable – or even offend them – is not. Higher education is right in the middle of an ongoing discussion about accommodation and inclusion, a discussion that is difficult, and sometimes even frustrating for those who prefer the status quo, but all the same vital and necessary. Language or certain ways of framing ideas that seem fine to you – because they always seemed fine in the past – may not appear that way to some students. Ask yourself, when reviewing course content of any kind, how different identities are being portrayed. This isn’t a question of not challenging learners, but of being respectful of their culture, values and perspectives. Put more simply: why knowingly use material that makes someone feel disrespected? Especially when there is so much alternative video content out there that works just as well, and isn’t problematic. The easiest way to avoid issues is to prepare your video content well in advance of the start of term and discuss it with your program coordinator. Our best advice is to use the best, most effective content for your class that you can. If your content is likely to upset people, it isn’t the best.
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Q
I inherited a course from a long-time faculty member who is taking on a different part of the program. But I’ve been going through some of the set assignments and wondering if I ought to refresh them a little. They’re all solid, but don’t quite match my teaching approach. In some cases, also, the language of the assignments has fallen a little out of date. I plan to keep all the marking totals and the overall focus – just want to give the assignments a tweak? Do I leave them as is, or do an update?
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In Hollywood, as in teaching and learning, reboots are the name of the game. You take something that worked fine the first time but has maybe become a little old-fashioned, give it a critical update, move the whole thing into the 21st-Century, and voilà! Instant success! Okay okay, so that formula doesn’t always work with movies. (Did you know they are rebooting Spider-Man again? That’s three times just since 2002!) But in the classroom, keeping things fresh and up to date is essential. Students can sense, just as well as faculty,
when a given assignment has gone stale. Imagine getting IT students to reflect on the wonders of the Nokia flipphone in 2016… You should absolutely be looking at all of your assignments with a critical eye. And by the way, that’s not just for faculty who have inherited a course, but ALL faculty. Humber has a well-earned reputation for the realworld relevancy of its programs, and that is maintained in part thanks to faculty who are willing to keep thinking about, adapting and modernizing their teaching methods, and ensuring their assessments are authentic. Before you hit the Delete key: remember that you shouldn’t be changing assignments just for the sake of it. In most cases, the details of an existing course are the result of many hours of careful planning and thinking by faculty, program coordinators, and program heads. Just as much thought and planning needs to go into any updates. The first person to speak to is your program coordinator, who will help guide your through the process of refreshing a course, and can offer a lot of critical advice. The next thing you should do is check out the Centre for Teaching & Learning’s huge list of workshops and course development experts – you are guaranteed to find something or someone you need to ensure your new course is not the academic equivalent of Spider-Man 3. (That’s the one in which Peter Parker went emo. And danced in a nightclub. Shudder.)
Course Outline
ILLUSTRATION: SHUTTERSTOCK
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