Full Agenda 2018

12th Annual University of Toronto Teaching and Learning Symposium

Experience: Integrated Learning

April 30, 2018

Co-hosted by the Centre for Teaching Support & Innovation and the Desautels Centre for Integrative Thinking

Location: Desautels Hall, Rotman School of Management, 2nd Floor

REGISTRATION is CLOSED

FULL AGENDA

8am-2pm
REGISTRATION

9am-9:15am
WELCOME REMARKS
President Meric Gertler

9:15am-11:50pm
INTERACTIVE KEYNOTE
Promoting and Assessing Integrative Learning: Connecting Theory and Practice
Elizabeth F. Barkley, Professor of Music History at Foothill College, Los Altos, California

Today’s teachers in higher education are under increased pressure to teach effectively and to provide evidence of both what and how well students are learning. This interactive keynote will support instructors who strive to promote powerful, integrative learning in their courses and who also need strategies for evaluating and reporting results not only to students, but also to other interested stakeholders. In this facilitated session, you will connect theory with practice as you apply within your own teaching context an approach for braiding teaching, integrative learning and assessment together in a seamless, unified process.

Elizabeth F. Barkley, Ph.D. is Professor of Music History at Foothill College, Los Altos, California. With four decades as an innovative and reflective teacher, she has received numerous honors and awards, including being named California’s Higher Education Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, formally recognized by the California state legislature for her contributions to undergraduate education, selected as “Innovator of the Year” in conjunction with the National League for Innovation, presented with the Hayward Award for Educational Excellence, and honored by the Center for Diversity in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. Additionally, her Musics of Multicultural America course was selected as “Best Online Course” by the California Virtual Campus. She was also named one of two Carnegie Scholars in the discipline of music by the Carnegie Foundation in conjunction with the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Her interests include engaging students through active and collaborative learning; transforming F2F and online curriculum to meet the needs of diverse learners; the scholarship of teaching and learning; and connecting learning goals with assessment. Her books have been translated into multiple languages and include Learning Assessment Techniques (co-authored with Claire H. Major, Wiley/Jossey-Bass, 2016), Collaborative Learning Techniques (co-authored with Claire H. Major and K. Patricia Cross, Wiley/Jossey-Bass, Second Edition, 2014), Student Engagement Techniques (Wiley/Jossey-Bass, 2010). Her most recent book, Interactive Lecturing (co-authored with Claire H. Major, Wiley/Jossey-Bass) was released in February, 2018.

11:50am-12pm
INTEGRATIVE LEARNING at U of T
Susan McCahan, Vice-Provost, Innovations in Undergraduate Education

12pm-1pm
LUNCH

1pm-2pm
CONCURRENT SESSION I

1.1 Lightning Talks: ‘Students as Partners’
i. Creating equity when converting a course to contain integrative learning assessments : 6 steps, 5 headaches, 3 major lessons learned and endless (great) surprises

Presenters:
William Ju, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Human Biology Program
Sabina Trebinjac (Undergraduate Student, Human Biology)
Georgia Hadjis (Undergraduate Student, Human Biology)
Dan Xuan Mona Wang (Undergraduate Student, Human Biology)
Kate Rzadki (Teaching Assistant, Human Biology and Institute of Medical Sciences)

Although there is an increasing need to develop resources that incorporate integrated learning experiences within courses, the impact that these types of experiences have on students who are employed or have responsibilities outside of the classroom potentially create inequities. According to a 2010 Statistics Canada report (see link below), between 40-50% of post-secondary students were part of the workforce during the regular school year, with an average of 16 hours per week at work in addition to time in the classroom. In this session, my students and I will highlight how we inverted a traditional research based seminar course to bring industry partners into the classroom, converted classroom lecture time to model a work place team environment during class times and generated a capstone project that incorporated all the elements of integrated learning required and evaluated by our industry partners. By not only changing the dynamics of how students and industry partners interact (using an inverted model of both in-person demonstrations and online discussions), but also creating a student lead collaborative online project assessed by industry partners, we developed a scalable and adaptable course structure that incorporates equity and integrative learning for senior level students in a seminar based course. This session will focus on the lessons learned during this adaptation of a traditional course, the student view of the learning outcomes and how this could be applied to any course.

Reference:
https://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/75-001-x/2010109/article/11341-eng.htm

ii. Student-consultants as a model for leveraging the design mindset to enable innovation in course curriculum

Presenters:
Nouman Ashraf, Assistant Professor, Rotman School of Management
Taylor Kim, Research Associate, Rotman School of Management

In this Lightning Talk, participants will learn about the student-consultant model and how it has been used to enable learning in a new program for Rotman Commerce students: Consulting for Impact.

In the Winter 2018 semester, 15 BComm students were selected to participate in the Consulting for Impact initiative, where students provided consulting services to a non-for-profit client, Daily Bread Food Bank. The outcome of this initiative is to identify a dimension of the organization’s mission that could be deepened through process improvement. The Consulting for Impact sessions is a collaboration with Lily Abediny at the Rotman Commerce Student Life Office, Professor Nouman Ashraf, and Research Associate, Taylor Kim.

This program utilized a student-consultant model to enhance relatability and engagement with the undergraduate students. Second year MBA student, Taylor Kim co-facilitated the Consulting for Impact program, drawing from her experience as a graduate of a parallel course in the MBA curriculum. As a student consultant, she used design-thinking methodologies to prototype this new initiative.

This student-consultant model is an example of the model that is described in the work of Bovill, Cook-Sather and Felten (2011). Through this student-consultant model, students co-design the curriculum to deepen the learning that takes place between peers and instructor. In this model, the faculty’s role is to enable agency in the students. In turn, students develop self-efficacy and grow into the belief that they are the “holders and creators of knowledge” (Bernal, 2002).

Through this session, the presenters will share their experiences of integrative learning in two ways: Firstly, how to integrate the learning of graduate students into designing and delivering the pedagogy to undergraduate students. Secondly, how to integrate meaningful community initiates into the learning outcomes of the program.

References:

Bernal, D. D. (2002). Critical Race Theory, Latino Critical Theory, and Critical Raced-Gendered Epistemologies: Recognizing Students of Color as Holders and Creators of Knowledge. Qualitative Inquiry.

Bovill, C., Cook-Sather, A., & Felten, P. (2011). Students as co‐creators of teaching approaches, course design, and curricula: implications for academic developers. International Journal for Academic Development, 133-145.

iii. Engaging Students as Partners in Program Assessment

Presenters:
Alison Gibbs, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Statistical Sciences
Saneea Mustafa, Undergraduate Student, Department of Statistical Sciences
Jessie Richards, Curriculum Developer, Office of the Vice-Provost, Innovations in Undergraduate Education
Bethany White, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Department of Statistical Sciences

The Department of Statistical Sciences was embarking on a major curriculum renewal initiative when a team of faculty, staff, and students attended a four-day institute on engaging students as partners in higher education. We began the institute with the broad goal of involving students in the curriculum renewal process in a significant way, and ended with a concrete plan for a students-as-partners project to assess the impact of the curriculum renewal.

Student-staff partnerships can take many forms but must “go beyond listening to the student voice and engage students as co-learners, co-researchers, co-inquirers, co-developers, and co-designers” (Healey et al, 2016). We believe the nature of student partnership strongly supports the values of work-integrated learning. While academic settings may not be typical workplaces for most Statistics graduates, our student partners are applying their developing understanding of statistics to evaluate the extent to which program learning outcomes are supported throughout the program. They are developing skills in collaboration, teamwork and professionalism, while critically reflecting on the impact of their program. In doing so, they are gaining valuable experience to take into the workplace.

We will describe how we formed a program assessment committee with equal representation of faculty/staff and students; what we have learned from the literature and our own partnership; the benefits for all parties; and our next steps.

By the end of this session, participants will be able to describe how student-staff partnerships may provide meaningful, integrated learning experiences and generate ideas for introducing partnerships in their respective units.

References:
Bovill, C. (2014). An investigation of co-created curricula within higher education in the UK, Ireland and the USA. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 51(1), 15–25.

Bovill, C., Cook-Sather, A., Felten, P., Millard, L., & Moore-Cherry, N. (2016). Addressing potential challenges in co-creating learning and teaching: Overcoming resistance, navigating institutional norms and ensuring inclusivity in student-staff partnerships. Higher Education, 71, 195-208.

Cook-Sather, A., Bovill, C., Felten, P. (2014). Program-level approaches to student-faculty partnerships. Engaging students as partners in learning and teaching: A guide for faculty. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Healey, M., Flint, A., and Harrington, K. (2016) Students as Partners: Reflections on a Conceptual Model, Teaching and Learning Inquiry 4(2).

1.2 Interactive Workshop: A 360 Degree Look at Community-Engaged Learning: Exploring Instructor, Community Partner and Student Perspectives

Presenters:
David Roberts, Assistant Professor, Urban Studies Program
Susanne Burkhardt, Coordinator, Academic Initiatives, Centre for Community Partnerships

An interactive panel consisting of a course instructor, community partner and student from INI236: A Multidisciplinary Introduction to Urban Studies II: Urban Challenges and Theoretical Application will provide a 360 degree look at community-engaged learning, inviting participants to explore and enhance their understanding of the simultaneous and diverse experiences of community-engaged pedagogy for its stakeholders.

Panelists will answer questions and engage in dialogue with participants on three themes:

Motivation

• What motivated you to participate in a community-engaged learning course?
• What makes community-engaged learning possible?

Experience

• Did you need to put in extra time or effort to teach/participate in this course?
• What were the opportunities and challenges afforded by your participation?
• What do you wish you knew about community engaged learning before this experience?

Impacts

• How did this experience impact you? Were there any unexpected outcomes?
• What advice would you give to an instructor thinking of teaching a community-engaged course?

For those who embark on teaching a community-engaged/service learning course, it is a complete pedagogical transformation. Much of the literature on first time service learning focuses on the student learning experience (Baldwin, S., Buchanan, & Rudisill, M., 2007; Markus, G., Howard, J. & King, C., 1993). The first time one teaches a service learning course is a time of rethinking one’s role as an educator and evaluator of learning.

Community-engaged/service learning invites us to redefine how we value knowledge, where learning can happen, and what our role is as educators. In many ways it represents what Barnett (2007) refers to as a “pedagogical disturbance” and where “A language for risk, uncertainty and transformation of human being itself [that] calls for imagination” is required (p.257). This session is an invitation to all interested in hearing what it is like to teach in, partner with and learn through a community-engaged learning course.

References

Barnett, R. (2004) Learning for an unknown future, Higher Education

Research & Development, 23:3, 247-260

Baldwin, S., Buchanan, & Rudisill, M. (2007). What teacher candidates learned about diversity, social justice, and themselves from service-learning experiences, Journal of Teacher Education, 58:4, 315-327

Markus, G., Howard, J. & King, C. (1993) Integrating community service and classroom instruction enhances learning: results from an experiment, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 15:4, 410-419.

1.3 Interactive Workshop: Getting Started with Community-Engaged Learning: What I Want to Know and What I Wish I Knew

Presenters:
Ashley Waggoner Denton, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Psychology
Kripa Freitas, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Department of Economics
Jennifer Esmail, Research Officer, Experiential Learning, Office of the Dean, Faculty of Arts & Science

Moving from “that sounds like a nice idea” to planning and implementing a Community-Engaged Learning (CEL) course can be a daunting experience. The goal of this workshop is to offer participants – especially instructors from departments who do not already offer CEL courses – a concrete set of steps and points to consider as they work through this process. We will structure the discussion around the stages of a ‘first timer’ CEL journey: Preliminary Details, Course Design, First Run, and Lessons Learned.  At each stage, the hurdles (both expected and unexpected) will be highlighted, as well as tips for getting past them. Discussion will be structured around a set of bullet points based on the facilitator’s experience, focusing on issues that will come up (or should come up) at each particular stage, and resulting advice. For example, during the preliminary stage, instructors will need to decide whether to incorporate CEL into an existing course, or to create a new CEL course, and there can be pros and cons to each approach. We will also highlight key findings from the CEL literature that are relevant to the discussion but go beyond our own experiences (e.g., Jenkins & Sheehey, 2012). Throughout the workshop, participants will be encouraged to add in their questions/suggestions based on their experience whatever stage they are at in the CEL journey. Workshop participants will leave with a realistic plan of action for moving forward with their own CEL ideas and a list of resources on campus available to them.

1.4 Interactive Workshop: Designing & Implementing Work-Integrated Learning Activities in Line with Your Learning Objectives: A Hands-on Workshop with Resources to Help You Get Started

Presenters:
Phanikiran Radhakrishanan, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Management, UTSC
Shadi Dalili, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, UTSC
Franco Taverna, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Human Biology, St George
Amelia Merrick, Director, Student Career Exploration and Education
Rebecca Wolfe, Coordinator, Community Development, Centre for Community Partnerships

Thinking of designing a work-integrated learning project for your course? Wondering how you should incorporate your learning objectives into it? What resources do you have from the University of Toronto to implement it? This interactive workshop answers these questions for you!

Faculty from chemistry, management, and biology will present examples of work-integrated learning activities that incorporated their learning objectives. Examples of work-integrated activities will range from ones that are relatively easy to implement to the semester-long projects. They will discuss the successes they experienced with designing and implementing such activities and reflect on ways to overcome challenges they faced with student and organizational engagement with such projects. Then, you will have a hands-on opportunity to practice connecting the learning objectives of your course to a work-integrated learning activity. You will also have a chance to receive feedback from participants and facilitators on activities you design.

Then, we will introduce you to staff from different on-campus (e.g., Centre for Community Partnerships) and off-campus agencies (e.g., Riipen) who can help you connect with organizations where you can conduct your work-integrated learning projects. They will also discuss ways to have a successful working relationship with these organizations and show you how to get resources to support student learning.

This workshop will give you a multi-faceted and realistic perspective of work-integrated learning. You will walk away with a draft of a work-integrated learning activity and a list of resources that are aligned with your learning objectives – to make your course an enriching experience for your students and partner organizations.

References
Drysdale, M. T., McBeath, M. L., Johansson, K., Dressler, S., & Zaitseva, E. (2016). Psychological attributes and work-integrated learning: An international study. Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning, 6(1), 20-34.

Jackson, D. (2015). Employability skill development in work-integrated learning: Barriers and best practice. Studies in Higher Education, 40(2), 350-367.
Rethinking higher education curricula: Increasing impact through experiential, work-integrated, and community-engaged learning (2017, June). A white paper for the University of Toronto. Retrieved from: https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/ctl/sites/utsc.utoronto.ca.ctl/files/u8/UofT%20White%20Paper%20Integrated%20Learning%20Experiences-%20June%202017a-2.pdf

Smith, C., & Worsfold, K. (2015). Unpacking the learning–work nexus: ‘Priming’ as lever for high-quality learning outcomes in work-integrated learning curricula. Studies in Higher Education, 40(1), 22-42.

1.5 Research on Teaching & Learning: Communication Competence; Research Skills; and Cross-Disciplinary Collaborations

i. Evaluating Communication Competence in Undergraduate Dental Students

Presenter: Laura Dempster, Associate Professor, Dentistry

Background: Effective communication is critical to understanding patients’ concerns and beliefs, eliciting relevant information, and explaining treatment options so patients can make informed decisions about their clinical care 1-4. Health care professionals need to accurately self-assess their skills to ensure optimal communication with patients.

Purpose: The purpose of this research was to investigate the learning experience of students by evaluating their self-assessment of their communication skills, and to compare student self-reflections identifying communication skills strengths and areas needing improvement.

Methods: A communication skills program developed for 2nd year dental students (n=96) at the Faculty of Dentistry includes an experiential learning component using standardized patients (SP) and role-playing (RP) in communication scenarios commonly found in clinical practice. Communication skills are assessed using the validated Kalamazoo Essential Elements Checklist (KEEC), identifying 7 elements of communication scored 1/poor-5/excellent. Scenarios were video-recorded with each student/dentist completing a second self-assessment after review of their video. Students also submitted a written reflection identifying their communication strengths and areas needing improvement.

Results: Students’ mean self-assessment scores of their communication were lower than scores reported by faculty, SPs, peer observers and peer (RP) patients, with higher scores reported for the 2nd scenario compared to the 1st scenario (p<0.05). Independent reviewers analyzed the text in the reflections and reached consensus on themes and subthemes. Themes emerging as strengths or areas needing improvement were communication techniques, building the dentist/patient relationship, interpersonal attributes and patient management skills. Students most frequently reported communication techniques as a strength as well as needing improvement. Future analysis will compare students’ initial and post video-review self-assessment of their communication skills, changes in self-assessment scores, and content analysis of student post-video reflections.

Conclusions: Communication techniques were cited most frequently as a strength as well as an area needing improvement. Other themes were reported less frequently. Interest lies in comparing post-video self-assessment scores to initial scores and to those reported by other raters.

References:

1. Coeling, H.V., Cukr, P.L. Communication styles that promote perceptions of collaboration, quality, and nurse satisfaction. Journal of Nursing Care Quality. 2000, 14: 63-74.

2. Leonard, M., Graham, S., Bonacum, D. The human factor: the critical importance of effective teamwork and communication in providing safe care. Quality Safe Health Care. 2004, 13: i85-i90.

3. Downar J et al. Standardized patient simulation versus didactic teaching alone for improving residents’ communication skills when discussing goals of care and resuscitation: A randomized controlled trial. Palliative Medicine, 2015.

4. Schirmer JM et al. Assessing Communication Competence: A Review of Current Tools. Family Medicine, 2005 37:184-192.

ii. Novel Approach to Developing First-Year Undergraduate Research Skills

Presenters:
Michelle French, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Physiology
Riya George, Undergraduate Student, University of Toronto

First-year courses introduce a broad discipline, but usually omit descriptions about research evidence and how it is acquired. Our aim was to expose first-year students to current research and to develop their research skills. To achieve this, a course (Biomedical Research at the Cutting Edge, PSL190H), modelled on one at UCLA (1), was developed and has run for five years (35 students/year). In the course, two high-level research seminars, presented by scientists, are the basis for subsequent classes and assignments. In assignments, students are asked to: interpret results, create figures, design experiments, and present research findings. To examine course effectiveness, an online survey (Classroom Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE)) (2) and a short-answer test were administered at the beginning and end of each offering of the course. CURE asks students about their attitudes to science and to estimate their learning, while the short-answer test assessed actual research skills. In the CURE survey, students reported learning gains in several areas including: “the ability to read and understand primary literature” and “skill in interpretation of results”. Indeed, when pre- vs post-test scores were analysed, students demonstrated statistically significant improvements in questions related to the analysis and interpretation of experimental data. In course evaluations, all stated that the course “deepened understanding of the subject matter”. In addition, two thirds of the students applied to take a second-year independent research course. Our approach can be adapted by instructors in any discipline who are interested in preparing students for independent research or other integrative learning experiences.

References:
Clark IE, et al. (2009) “Deconstructing” scientific research: A practical and scalable pedagogical tool to provide evidence-based science instruction. PLoS Biology 7:1

Lopatto D, et al. (2008) Undergraduate research: genomics education partnership. Science 322:684

Additional:
Mader CM et al. (2017) Multi-institutional, mutidisciplinary study of the impact of course-based research experiences. J Microbiology and Biology Education 18:1.

iii. Assessing Cross-Disciplinary Student Collaborations

Presenters:
Emanuel Istrate, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Victoria College and Impact Centre
Shawn Soobramanie, Research assistant and undergraduate student, Victoria College

We will present the results of a study on the effectiveness of collaborations between science and art students in the context of a holography course (IVP210). The course uses cross-disciplinary teams of two students, coming from the various disciplines within the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, who are tasked to consider both the art and the science of making holograms.

Student team-work is a valuable learning experience. It allows students to tackle more complex projects, and also trains students in managing inter-personal relations. Most often, team work assumes that all members bring similar skills. For example, in an upper-year science course, all students are expected to have a solid knowledge of the scientific discipline. Collaboration in these “symmetric” cases has been widely studied [1-4], with reports in the teaching literature, and in the literature on productivity.

In our case, however, students bring very different skills to a team [5]. They come from the arts, sciences, social sciences and engineering. This is a good step towards integrated learning. The skills developed here should be useful in work settings, where teams of diverse skills are common. Collaboration in the case of such cross-disciplinary teams, however, brings new challenges: How should students divide the work? Are both students expected to develop the same skills? How should such team work be assessed?

Our study looks at student attitudes towards these cross-disciplinary group projects, investigating issues such as: how effective are these collaborations; how do students organize their work; how do students value their partner’s contributions; etc. Data is collected through student surveys, as well as individual interviews with a few of the students in the course. This work will inform the larger body of work on group projects available in the literature, from the unique perspective of “asymmetric teams”. By the end of this session, participants should be able to understand the value of diversity in student teams and to get an appreciation of how the effectiveness of such teams can be evaluated.

References:
[1] R.E. Slavin, (1988), Cooperative learning and student achievement. Educational Leadership, 46.

[2] D.W. Johnson and R.T. Johnson. (1994). Learning together and alone: Cooperative, competitive and individualistic learning. Boston: Allyn&Bacon.

[3] D.R. Bacon, K.A. Stewart and W.S. Silver. (1999). Lessons from the best and worst student team experiences: How a teacher can make a difference. Journal of Management Education, 23.

[4] J.J.B. Harlow, D.M. Harrison and A. Meyertholen. (2016). Effective student teams for collaborative learning in an introductory university physics course. Physical Review Physics Education Research, 12.

1.6 Symposium-You: ‘Experiential Learning – Creation and Access & Accommodation’

i. Empowering Students to Create Their Own Experiential Learning Opportunities

Presenter: Nana Lee, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Biochemistry

How did graduate students create their own experiential learning opportunities which helped land their current careers? What skills were they taught to achieve this? How can faculty teach these skills through a professional development course or within a core course? Dr. Nana Lee opens the discussion through her students’ stories in creating their experiential learning opportunities with skills taken from her graduate professional development (GPD) course, a program highlighted in Council of Graduate Schools/NSF, Conference Board of Canada, the National Post and Science Careers.

The GPD course is a quarter-credit graduate-level course in the Department of Biochemistry and a mandatory module in the Department of Immunology with its central core consisting of 1) self-reflection through the Science Careers Individual Development Plan, 2) methods of meaningful engagement by learning core competency skills such as communications to the general public through writing lay summaries of their research and the Three Minute Thesis, and 3) strategic oral and written communications in creating their own internships, experiential learning opportunities and prototypes of their future career. One such example which will be highlighted is how a PhD student, based upon the communications skills learned through GPD, built a business rapport with a company which gradually turned into a part-time internship and resulted in a publication in Nature Methods.

Participants of this Symposium-You will then ask questions, discuss and share their own best practices in empowering students with entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial skills to be market-ready.

References:
http://biochemistry.utoronto.ca/2017/01/biochemistry-gpd-featured-by-nsf/
http://biochemistry.utoronto.ca/2015/12/gpd-featured-as-best-practice-in-conference-board-of-canada-report/
http://nationalpost.com/news/canada/are-there-too-many-phds-turns-out-maybe-not-a-look-at-where-phds-end-up-after-leaving-the-ivory-tower
http://www.sciencemag.org/careers/2013/10/graduate-course-professional-development

ii. Supporting Student Access and Accommodation Needs in the Provision of Integrated Learning Experiences

Presenters:
Ashley Stirling, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education
Colin Furness, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Faculty of Information
Christine Arsenault, Managing Director, Management & Management Co-op, University of Toronto Scarborough

How can we be best advance equitable access to student integrated learning experiences and what accommodation supports are required? Recognizing the benefits of learning through experience and the growing priorities nationally and provincially to advance experiential offerings for postsecondary students, it is timely to consider barriers to student engagement and how student accommodation supports may be unique from what are currently provided to support classroom learning. In this symposium, access and accommodation challenges will be shared with examples across paid, unpaid and international course/program-based integrated learning opportunities. Bringing these issues to the group, we are hoping to generate discussion and ideas for better enhancing integrated learning experiences for all students.

Key discussion points will include: What barriers and facilitators influence students’ ability to engage in integrated learning? What are some success stories and examples of individualized approaches for supporting students in integrated learning experiences?

1.7 Intelligent Artificiality: Learning to Learn from Machines that Learn

Co-author and presenter: Mihnea Moldoveanu, Professor of Economic Analysis, Desautels Professor of Integrative Thinking, Vice Dean, Learning Innovation and Executive Programs, Director, Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto; Visiting Professor, Harvard Business School; Founder and Past CEO, Redline Communications Group, Inc.

Co-author: Richard Nesbitt, CEO, Global Risk Institute; Professor of Finance, Rotman School of Management; Visiting Professor, London School of Economics; past CEO, Toronto Stock Exchange; past COO, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce; Chair of Founding Advisors’ Board, Mind Brain Behavior Institute.

Intelligent Artificiality is a paradigm that focuses on the evolution and development of quintessentially human skills and the development of the comparative advantage of humans over algorithmics agents. We show how simultaneously  focusing on specifying and augmenting a computational abstraction layer (‘mindware’) and improving an implementation substrate (‘brainware’) can significantly change the way we engage with ‘learning’, ‘teaching’, ‘healing’ and ‘aging’. We also give specific examples of how the Mind Brain Behavior Institute – the originator of the Intelligent Artificiality paradigm – is currently advancing the intelligent artificiality approach to augmenting human intelligence.

2pm-2:15pm
BREAK

2:15pm-3:15pm
CONCURRENT SESSION II

2.1 Interactive Workshop: Using Layered Curriculum Maps to Identify and Coordinate Integrated Learning Opportunities

Presenters:
Fiona Rawle, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Biology, UTM
Dianne Ashbourne, Educational Developer, RGASC, UTM

It can be complex to communicate student learning outcomes and to identify different stakeholder roles in integrated learning experiences. Here, we present a novel way to use layered curriculum maps to plan, evaluate, and communicate integrated learning experiences. Curriculum maps provide explicit documentation and dissemination of the intended connections between course and program expectations and what is taught and assessed. As such, they have traditionally been tools exclusively created by, and shared with, faculty members to help them design courses thoughtfully aligned with program goals. However, curriculum maps can also be used to identify novel learning and assessment opportunities, and to coordinate learning experiences. Given that one of the most challenging aspects of integrated learning is coordinating all the stakeholders involved, layered curriculum maps could be a useful tool in this coordination.

This session will explore the potential of expanding the intended audience of curriculum maps to break down some of the traditional boundaries between faculty, students and staff, especially within the context of integrated learning experiences. We will showcase strategies for aligning learning outcomes and assessment within integrated learning experiences, as well as identifying new learning opportunities. The workshop will be divided into three sections/purposes of curriculum mapping: (1) Plan – identify novel learning and assessment opportunities; (2) Communicate – coordinate all the stakeholders involved; (3) Evaluate – aligning learning outcomes and assessment within integrated learning experiences.

Participants with all levels of curriculum mapping experience are welcome. If available, participants are encouraged to bring copies of their current curriculum maps. The workshop will focus on how to adapt current curriculum maps (or start from scratch) specifically for integrated learning experiences. Curriculum mapping templates, samples, and other resources will be shared, both in hard copy and digitally via email. At the end of this session, participants will be able to scale up current curriculum maps to a layered format that involves all stakeholders, and will be able to use these layered curriculum maps for assessment of student learning outcomes.

References:
F. Rawle, T. Bowen, R. Hong, B. Murck. (2017). Curriculum Mapping Across Disciplines: Differences, Approaches, and Strategies. Collected Essays on Teaching and Learning. Vol. 10.

2.2 Lightning Talks: ‘Working with Community’

i. Using Simulation in Teaching and Assessment: An Integrative Learning Method to Bridge Classroom and Field

Presenters:
Toula Kourgiantakis, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work
Marion Bogo, Professor, Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work
Karen Sewell, Doctoral Student, Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work
Jane Sanders, Doctoral Student, Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work

Social work education has a holistic competence framework and focuses on student learning of “knowledge, values, skills, and cognitive and affective processes,” required for practice (CSWE, 2015, p. 6). Simulation-based learning is an exemplar method for teaching holistic competence (Bogo, Rawlings, Katz & Logie, 2014; Drisko, 2015; Kourgiantakis, Bogo & Sewell, 2018). Simulation provides students with an opportunity to interact with standardized clients in scenarios that replicate real social worker-client encounters (Bogo et al., 2014). This experiential teaching and assessment method permits instructors to observe practice in the classroom and provide formative and summative assessment of competencies demonstrated by students. It prepares students for internship learning and bridges classroom and field. Students have an opportunity to reflect on practice and incorporate feedback in future simulation activities (Bogo et al., 2014).

Simulation is the signature pedagogy at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work and it is used to teach and assess holistic competence. Our research team has developed the Toronto Simulation Model based on a multi-study program of research on education (Bogo et al., 2014).  The goal of this presentation is to discuss the benefits of teaching and learning using this innovative simulation model.  We will explain how this Integrative Learning Method facilitates competency development through observed practice, focused feedback and guided reflection (Kourgiantakis et al., 2018). At the end of this presentation, participants will be able to describe how simulation can be used to: 1) teach generalist and specialized competencies, and 2) assess competence during simulation learning activities using formative and summative assessments.

References:
Bogo, M., Rawlings, M., Katz, E., & Logie, C. (2014). Using Simulation in Assessment and Teaching: OSCE Adapted for Social Work (Objective Structured Clinical Examination). Alexandria, VI: CSWE.

Council on Social Work Education. (2015). Educational policy and accreditation standards. (EPAS). Alexandria, VA:  Author. Retrieved from http://www.csocial worke.org/file.aspx?id=81660

Drisko, J. W. (2015). Holistic competence and its assessment. Smith College Studies in Social Work, 85, 110-127.

Kourgiantakis, T., Bogo, M., & Sewell, K. M. (in press). Practice Fridays:  Using simulation to develop holistic competence.  Journal on Social Work Education.

ii. Riipen Experiential Learning in a 4th year Pharmaceutical Chemistry Course

Presenters:
Shadi Dalili, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Physical and Environmental Sciences
Cindy Walawander, MA, PMP, Vice President, Operations, Cognigen Corporation, a SimulationsPlus Company

Riipen is an experiential learning platform solution that connects top post-secondary students and recent graduates to employers through in-class faculty-supervised industry projects. In this pilot project of the Riipen platform, students in a fourth year Pharmaceutical Chemistry course (CHMD71H) were partnered with Cognigen, a contract research organization supporting the pharmaceutical industry.

In this project, the goal was for students to work as a team to develop a marketing message that describes the importance of molecular modeling and simulation in drug development, and why Cognigen is best suited to meet the pharmaceutical industries needs for modeling and simulation. Through this project, the students would learn:

1) relationship building with industry partner(s) and each other as teams
2) multi-tasking and organizational skills related to planning and executing a team project
3) time management skills related to meeting tight deadlines
4) delegation of responsibilities and being accountable for delivering on assigned responsibilities
5) translating industry partner’s expectations into appropriate deliverable (such as slogan/banner/ppt presentation)

Participants will learn about the Riipen platform, how to partner with industry, and design/define projects for students through the platform. Samples of student projects and feedback from industry partners will be shared. This type of work-integrated learning is valuable to students due to its direct connection to the industry, and application of deliverable by the industry partner(s).

iii. Co-designing Courses with Community Partners

Presenter: Gabriel Eidelman, Assistant Professor, School of Public Policy and Governance

This year, U of T’s School of Public Policy and Governance entered into a partnership with Evergreen Canada, a national charitable organization with a mandate to create sustainable communities. The first product of this partnership was the creation of a new 2nd-year elective course in the School’s Master of Public Policy program entitled “Making an Impact from the Outside”, co-designed and co-delivered by Prof. Gabriel Eidelman, the School’s Associate Director for Teaching Innovation, and Jo Flatt, Evergreen’s Senior Manager of Policy and Partnerships. The goal of the six-week intensive course was to expose students to public policy making from the perspective of non-governmental organizations, and provide students with the skills necessary to achieve policy change from outside government, by taking students out of the classroom and into the community. The majority of class sessions were held off-campus at the Evergreen Brick Works, where students interacted closely with over a dozen Evergreen staff, supplemented by various site visits and field assignments. This “lightning talk” will cover the genesis of the course, detail students’ learning experiences, and consider how other educators might build similar community partnerships.

2.3 Cancelled

2.4 Interactive Workshop: “Can you escape the job search rut?”: Gamification in Pre-Work Term Cooperative Education Courses

Presenter: Danielle Moed, Co-op Coordinator, Student Development, Faculty of Arts & Science Co-op

Learners powerfully activate their hippocampus when exposed to the right amount of attention, generation, emotion and spacing, which in turn builds deeper, stronger neural connections, allowing students to create long term memories (Davachi, Kiefer, Rock & Rock, 2010). Generating these types of memories is vastly important to the area of cooperative education, where students are not only learning skills required to acquire a work term, but ultimately are building life skills.

But how can we achieve this in a cooperative education course? One method is gamification.

Gamified learning experiences have been shown to improve motivation and increase engagement by maximizing attention, encouraging generation and creating positive emotion-arousing events (Manson, 2017; Davachi, Kiefer, Rock & Rock, 2010).

One form of gamified learning is classroom-style “escape rooms”. While escape rooms are relatively new to educational environments, due to their intrinsic nature, they are excellent vessels for exploring the concepts of key skills not only required by employers in the workplace, but also for academic success overall (Pan, Henry, & Neustaedter, 2017).

In the Arts & Science Co-op Department at UTSC, COPD03 course, gamification was implemented in the form of an in-class “escape room”, where students engaged in a trial session of game-based course related learning and reflected on their learning experience.

Participants in this session will have the opportunity to participate in a job search “escape room” to experience the gamified learning approach first-hand, followed by a debrief, a discussion of the methodology and approach, as well as, its potential extension to other program areas.

Note: To fully engage in the experience, attendees should considering bringing a laptop, tablet or other digital device to the session.

References:

Davachi, L., Kiefer, T., Rock, D., & Rock, L. (2010). Learning that lasts through AGES. NeuroLeadership Journal, 3:53–63

Manson, S.K. (2017). Using Game Mechanics to Increase Graduate Student Engagement with Library Resources. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation), Texas Wesleyan University, Fort Worth, TX.

Pan, R., Henry, L., & Neustaedter, C. (2017). Collaboration, Awareness, and Communication in Real-Life Escape rooms. DIS 2017, Edinburgh, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3064663.3064767

2.5 Symposium-You: ‘Curriculum Renewal and Reimagining’

i. Sharing Snapshots: Early Experiences with a Curriculum Mapping Process

Presenters:
Kathryn Broad, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Curriculum Teaching and Learning, OISE
Said Sidani, PhD Student, CTL, OISE

OISE’s Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning is engaging in a curriculum renewal process for its Master of Teaching. The program serves approximately 800 teacher candidates and connects university classroom learning (16 mandatory and 2 elective courses) with field experiences in practicum (2 courses). It emphasizes the transferability of learning and a commitment to reflective self-assessment. As part of renewal, curriculum mapping focused on program coherence and the connections between research/theory and practice in the field has been undertaken (Hammerness, 2006; Burn & Mutton, 2015).

In this session, we will briefly describe one aspect of the mapping process. A course ‘snapshot’ tool is being used to identify course expectations and assignments and determine the degree to which these elements are shared across multiple sections of a course. Participants will explore sample snapshots and consider the tool’s potential value in their unique settings.

The question guiding our session is: How might curriculum mapping in a graduate professional teacher education program strengthen the connections between theory/research and practice?

Participants will discuss: (i) the tensions of developing course-level expectations that reflect both graduate degree-level expectations and professional accreditation requirements; (ii) how the snapshot tool may build greater program coherence through increased shared understanding among instructors; and (iii) how assignments can intentionally bridge coursework and field experiences to enhance students’ knowledge and application of the theory/research and practice relationship. Throughout the session, participants will be encouraged to make explicit links to their own contexts.

References:
Burn, K., & Mutton, T. (2015). A review of ‘research-informed clinical practice’ in initial teacher education. Oxford Review of Education, 41(2), 217-233.

Hammerness, K. (2006). From coherence in theory to coherence in practice. Teachers College Record, 108(7), 1241-1265.

University College Dublin. (2016). Curriculum Renewal and Enhancement Guide, Version 3. 2015-16. Retrieved from http://www.ucd.ie/t4cms/Curriculum%20Review%20&%20Enhancement%20Guide.pdf

ii. Reimagining Curriculum: Leveraging Expertise Across Institutional Boundaries

Presenters:
Kris Kim, Learning Strategist, Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering
Lisa Romkey, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Division of Engineering Science
Annie Simpson, Assistant Director, Institute for Leadership Education in Engineering
Mindy Thuna, Head, Engineering & Computer Science Library
Deborah Tihanyi, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream and Director, Engineering Communication Program, Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering
Allison Van Beek, Information Technology Specialist, Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering

In recent years, there has been increasing collaboration among the many stakeholders within the core curriculum in the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering. With a professional program, tensions exist between accreditation, professional practice, preparation for the workplace, and traditional academic pursuits. Add to that Faculty- and University-wide priorities and the Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development’s new emphasis on experiential learning, and the need to move beyond ad hoc relationships between these spheres is particularly timely.

This type of collaboration, that attempts to move beyond the traditional silos in the university, is not without its difficulties. As Harrison (2013) points out, while there is a need for these kinds of partnerships, issues around power, economics, and student advocacy can often preclude their efficacy, and misunderstandings about expertise and individuals’ roles in the system can derail these partnerships before they begin (Santa Rita, 1996). All the more reason, then, to understand the cultures within one’s own and the others’ constituencies (Magolda, 2005) in order to create meaningful—and sustainable—collaborations.

In this session, we will engage the audience with some key questions surrounding these partnerships, as well as share some of our own experiences. How can we collaborate to deliver diverse programming and provide experiences that focus on educating the whole student? How do we navigate the power dynamics in the diversity of roles and responsibilities within the university community as we work toward that education? How can experiential learning best be supported by these types of collaborations?

References:
Harrison, L. (2013). “Faculty and Student Affairs Collaboration in the Corporate University.” Journal of College & Character 14(4), November 2013.

Magolda, P. M. (2005). “Proceed with Caution: Uncommon Wisdom About Academic and Student Affairs Partnerships.” About Campus, January-February 2005.

Santa Rita, E. D. (1996). “Classroom and Context: An Educational Dialectic.” Department of Counseling & Student Support Services, Bronx Community College, City University of New York.

2.6 Lightning Talks: ‘Integrative Learning in Sciences’

i. A Tale of Two Hospitals: Adventures in Experiential Learning

Presenters:
Joseph Ferenbok, Assistant Professor, Institute of Medical Science
Adriana Ieraci, Lecturer, Translational Research Program, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology
Richard Foty, Assistant Professor, Translational Research Program, Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation
Moni Kim, Translational Research Program, Program Administrator

In our second year of programming (2016-17), the teaching team at the Translational Research Program, a 2-year professional MHSc at the Faculty of Medicine, saw a gap between the materials taught in our courses and their integration into student-led capstone projects in the second year of the program. We realized we needed a way get students to practice class concepts, frameworks and tools before starting their major translational projects in the second year of the program.

Serendipitously, that summer, a local hospital expressed interest to explore educational approaches outside of typical residence training and proposed the idea of having our students work with hospital stakeholders (executives, clinicians, nurses and patient-family-advocates, etc.) to explore potential projects that might help advance the hospital’s strategic priorities. And so, we decided to pilot a community-based project within our Capstone Preparation class as a mechanism to bridge class concepts and their application.

In this session, “A Tale of Two Hospitals”, we will highlight the lessons learned from the first and second iterations of this initiative; and discuss plans for adjusting the facilitation and evaluation strategies for the next round.

ii. The Whole is Greater than the Sum of the Parts: A research poster project provides an integrative framework for learning across courses in biology

Presenter: Aarthi Ashok, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Biological Sciences, UTSC

Co-authors:
Paolo DeSordi, Casual contract worker, Department of Biological Sciences, UTSC
Ahmed Elbassiouny, Graduate Program in Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto and Department of Biological Sciences, UTSC
Sarah Guay, Liaison librarian for Biological Sciences, UTSC library
Angela Hamilton, Acting Deputy Chief Librarian, UTSC library and Liaison Librarian for Biological Sciences, UTSC library
Sarah King, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, and Coordinator, The Writing Centre, UTSC
Jason Brown, Sessional Lecturer, Department of Biological Sciences, UTSC
Peter Molnar, Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, UTSC
Ivana Stehlik, Associate professor, Teaching Stream, Department of Biological Sciences, UTSC
Maydianne C.B. Andrade, Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, UTSC and Vice-Dean, Faculty and Equity, UTSC
C. Dan Riggs, Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, UTSC

The integration of ideas, defined as the process by which students organize and connect new knowledge for deeper understanding, is essential for lifelong learning, a key attribute of a productive future workforce (1)(2)(3). Integration of ideas across sub-disciplines in biology requires an understanding of different organizational scales (molecular to ecosystems) and time frames (physiological to evolutionary) and how they inter-relate. The challenge lies in allowing sufficient time and opportunity for students to integrate such ideas (4), given that sub-disciplines are taught in relative isolation through individual courses. To promote integration, we designed a poster assignment in which ~700 students registered across second year courses work together (130 groups) to investigate a research topic by exploring empirical research in multiple sub-disciplines. While the primary goal was to encourage students to enrich their understanding by integrating knowledge from these fields, we also sought to develop key transferable skills (teamwork, information literacy and scientific communication) critical to the future education and employability of students. Assignment grades that specifically measured students’ ability to integrate ideas indicated that the vast majority (81%) of students successfully met or exceeded our expectations. Survey data indicate that the majority were satisfied with this learning experience and reported development of transferable skills. This collaborative approach to assignment design, which included contributions from liaison librarians, faculty and graduate students, congruently promotes collaboration. We believe this research project can be adapted to other disciplines and aligns with calls for educational reform that advocate for curiosity-driven approaches to stimulate student learning (5)(6)(7)(8).

References:
1. Government of Canada. 2018. Budget 2017 Supports Lifelong Learning For a Changing Job Market. [online] Available at: https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/news/2017/03/budget_2017_supportslifelonglearningforachangingjobmarket.html [Accessed 28 Feb. 2018].
2. Rateau RJ, Kaufman EK, Cletzer DA. 2015. Innovative Classroom Strategies That Prepare College Graduates for Workplace Success. J Agric Educ 56:52–68.
3. Wake MH. 2008. Integrative Biology: Science for the 21st Century. BioScience 58:349–353.
4. Clark D, Linn MC. 2003. Designing for Knowledge Integration: The Impact of Instructional Time. J Learn Sci 12:451–493.
5. Bradforth SE, Miller ER, Dichtel WR, Leibovich AK, Feig AL, Martin JD, Bjorkman KS, Schultz ZD, Smith TL. 2015. University learning: Improve undergraduate science education. Nat News 523:282.
6. American Association for the Advancement of Science. Vision and change in undergraduate biology education: a call to action: a summary of recommendations made at a national conference organized by the American Association for the Advancement of Science; July 15–17, 2009; Washington, DC. 2011.
7. Singer S, Smith KA. Discipline-based education research: understanding and improving learning in
undergraduate science and engineering: discipline-based education research. J Eng Educ. 2013;102:468–471.
8. Department of Education, U.S.A. STEM 2026; A Vision for Innovation in STEM education [online] Available at: https://innovation.ed.gov/files/2016/09/AIR-STEM2026_Report_2016.pdf [Accessed 28 Feb. 2018].

iii. Professional Identity Formation: Assessing an Integrated Approach to Bridging the Theory-Practice Gap in Nursing Education

Presenters:
Anne Simmonds, Assistant Professor, Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto
Lindsey Lenters, BSc, MPH, BScN Student, Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto
Alex Nunn, BA&Sc, MPH, BScN Student, Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto
Sarabeth Silver, RN, BScN, MN Student, Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto

Learning Outcomes:

1. To describe the perspectives of faculty and students on course design linking theoretical understandings of professional identity with practical application in clinical placements (structured work experiences)
2. To identify strategies for integrating student feedback into a collaborative course design to foster meaningful integrative learning experiences

Integrative learning using a scaffolding approach has always been a key component of the education and training of health professionals. The aim of this approach is to deepen the integration between theory and practice in the clinical setting, allowing students to apply theory to practice or practice to theory as they progress through the program. Concerns related to the theory-practice ‘gap’ in nursing education have intensified recently, with a particular focus on how to best prepare students to function in increasingly complex work environments. Undergraduate nursing faculty play an instrumental role in the professional identity formation of students through their pedagogical approaches to course design, which can foster transformative learning, enabling students to challenge the assumptions through which they understand and enact their nursing practice.

In this collaborative teacher-student presentation, we will critically reflect on our experiences of planning and undertaking learning assessments designed to foster integrative learning related to professional identity formation. In doing so, we will expose some of the tensions that exist between the hoped-for and actual experience of integrative learning. In the final portion of our session, we will engage participants in a discussion of strategies for collaborative teacher-student course design to support effective integrative learning experiences.

References:
Baldwin, A., Mills, J., Birks, M., & Budden, L. (2017). Reconciling professional identity: A grounded theory of nurse academics’ role modelling for undergraduate students. Nurse Education Today, 59, 1-5.

Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (2016). A practical Guide for Work Integrated Learning. Retrieved from: http://www.heqco.ca/SiteCollectionDocuments/HEQCO_WIL_Guide_ENG_ACC.pdf

2.7 Lightning Talks: ‘Research; Open Data; Entrepreneurship’

i. Meet the Research Catalogue

Presenter: Analise Anderson-Ma, Staff (USW appointed), Career Exploration and Education

The Research Catalogue officially launched in January 2018. The Research Catalogue seeks to be a comprehensive database of research projects that faculty across U of T are undertaking and that undergrad students support (e.g., Work Study, volunteer, research abroad, etc.). We envision the Research Catalogue will increase student awareness of cross-campus research, and help students identify and connect with faculty having shared research interests. We anticipate you’ll hear from more students (including students with diverse backgrounds) who are equipped with knowledge about the research you do.
In this Lightning Talk, hear the benefits to you and students of using the Research Catalogue. Take a walk-through the Research Catalogue (from a faculty and student view) – see how it works, how you can add your own profile, and even how the Research Catalogue and CLN can support you in recruiting undergraduate students for your projects. Finally, learn about some additional research resources for students.

ii. Partnerships with Government: The Use of Open Data in the Classroom

Presenter: Steve Szigeti, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Institute of Communication, Culture, Information & Technology, UTM

As we continue to seek opportunities in our classrooms for community engagement and integrative learning, federal, provincial, and municipal governments provide a potential solution through their open data repositories. The repositories are easy to access and the lack of restrictions on their use make them ideal for integration into a variety of courses across multiple disciplines. The open data initiative is intended to create transparency and foster public engagement by making data (collected as part of regular government business practices) available to the public in a downloadable and machine readable format. These data sets vary in terms of characteristics and quality, but with over 650 different sets (at the provincial level alone), instructors and students will find data usable in a variety of contexts and disciplines. It is worth noting that instructors and students can work with the data sets without any coding experience, by focusing on the meta data associated with each set. In addition, government representatives can make themselves available, providing students with direct access to those overseeing this growing initiative.

This talk will present examples of how partnerships with both the City of Toronto and the Government of Ontario can foster community engagement and experiential learning through classroom presentations, discussions, exercises and assignments. Open data was incorporated into undergraduate and graduate level courses (with a focus on data literacy, design thinking and statistical analysis). The talk outlines the benefits of involving government representatives and how to incorporate the data repository into different contexts, from social sciences to the humanities, through classroom exercises and assignments.

Related Resources

• City of Mississauga. (2018). Mississauga Open Data Catalogue. http://data.mississauga.ca/
• City of Toronto. (2018). Open Data Catalogue. https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/data-research-maps/open-data/open-data-catalogue/
• Government of Ontario. (2018). Data Catalogue. https://www.ontario.ca/search/data-catalogue
• Government of Ontario. (2018). Sharing Government Data. https://www.ontario.ca/page/sharing-government-data
• Region of Peel (2018). Open Data. http://opendata.peelregion.ca/

iii. Experiential Entrepreneurship Education: Transcending Disciplines of Study

Presenters:
Alon Eisenstein, Sessional (CUPE 3902, Unit 3)/CLTA, Impact Centre
Keshavjee, L. Happy Pops Inc., Toronto

Entrepreneurship education has been well established in post-secondary institutions for the past several decades, including in Ontario (Sá, 2014). Beyond the potential economic benefits, teaching entrepreneurship can potentially impact students’ engagement in their learning due to the value students perceive to be able to create (Lackéus, 2015). Upon graduation, students’ decision to pursue entrepreneurship has been linked to their motivation/disposition for entrepreneurship (Kozlinska, 2016).

In this presentation, the Impact Centre’s approach to entrepreneurship education through “Exploring New Ventures” (currently IMC392) course will be presented, focusing on the framing of entrepreneurial experiential learning. Lessons and practices from the past 4 years that have included nearly 200 students from across a range of disciplines will be presented.

In this session, the journey of Leila, a U of T alumna who transitioned from a Kinesiology student to a private label artisanal Popsicle manufacturer (McAuley, 2016), will be used as an example for the holistic approach for entrepreneurship education.

References:
Kozlinska, I. (2016). Evaluation of the Outcomes of Entrepreneurship Education Revisited: Evidence from Estonia and Latvia (doctoral dissertation).

Lackéus, M. (2015). Entrepreneurship in education: what, why, when, how. Entrepreneurship 360 Background Paper, OECD Publishing, Paris.

McAuley, S. (2016, October 5). Transforming popsicles one Happy Pop at a time [Blog post]. Retrieved from: http://www.impactcentre.ca/blog/happy-pops/

Sá, C., Kretz, A., Sigurdson, K. (2014). The State of Entrepreneurship Education in Ontario’s Colleges and Universities. Toronto: Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario.

3:15pm-3:30pm
BREAK

3:30pm-4:30pm
CONCURRENT SESSION III

3.1 Lightning Talks: Alumni Partnerships for Career and Community-Engaged Learning

Presenters:
Clare Gilderdale, Alumni Engagement Liaison, Faculty of Arts & Science
Alison Gibbs, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Department of Statistical Sciences
Franco Taverna, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Human Biology Program
Jennifer Esmail, Research Officer, Experiential Learning, Office of the Dean, Faculty of Arts & Science

More and more instructors are interested in integrating career-engaged or community-engaged learning in their courses and want to develop external partnerships to support this goal. One key strategy to mobilize existing relationships to support these initiatives is to look to alumni from your program who have already translated their disciplinary knowledge into their future work and can advise students based on their experiences. The partnerships you develop with alumni in this context — whether as guest speakers, placement supervisors or networking contacts for your current students — are built on common experiences and therefore have the potential to be more successful, reciprocal, durable and rewarding than ones forged outside of an existing relationship.

This series of three lightning talks will explore how instructors and units can partner with alumni from their programs for career-engaged and community-engaged learning courses. The talks will feature two experienced instructors, who have either hosted alumni career panels or invited alumni to serve as placement supervisors in a community-engaged learning course, as well as two staff administrators who have supported these courses. The instructors will share how they facilitated these partnerships and the benefits of engaging alumni in this way. The staff administrators will share strategies for applying the principles of successful alumni partnerships to other career-engaged and community-engaged learning contexts.

The first lightening talk will be led by Professor Alison Gibbs, Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies in Statistical Sciences. Professor Gibbs will discuss the integration of an alumni career panel into her 4th year course, STA 490: Statistical Consultation, Communication, and Collaboration.

The second lightening talk will be led by Professor Franco Taverna. Professor Taverna will discuss engaging alumni as community partners in his Human Biology Service Learning courses.

The third lightening talk will be led by Jennifer Esmail, Research Officer, Experiential Learning, Faculty of Arts & Science and Clare Gilderdale, Alumni Engagement Liaison, Faculty of Arts & Science. They will discuss key considerations for engaging alumni in integrated learning opportunities.

3.2 Interactive Workshop: Improv-ing Learning, Collaboration and Creativity

Presenters:
Carolyn Sealfon, Sessional (CUPE 3902, Unit 3)/CLTA, Physics
Nancy Watt (Nancy Watt Communications)

Integrative learning involves 21st century competencies such as teamwork, creativity, and resilience. Such deeper learning requires cognitive (thinking/reasoning), intrapersonal (behaviour/emotions), and interpersonal (communication/collaboration) development. In academia, we tend to focus primarily on students’ cognitive growth. How can we better integrate intrapersonal and interpersonal growth with highly analytical fields of study? Improvisational theater (improv) offers engaging strategies to investigate and improve human interactions and emotions during any learning process. In this interactive workshop, we will participate together in classroom-friendly activities that apply tools and techniques from improv to foster listening skills, team building, psychological safety, stress reappraisal and growth mindset. Through reflecting on experiences and observations after the activities, we will collaboratively discover “aha” moments. All are welcome to join us and challenge assumptions in this camaraderie-filled workshop.

References:
Ballen, Cissy J., et al. “Enhancing Diversity in Undergraduate Science: Self-Efficacy Drives Performance Gains with Active Learning.” CBE-Life Sciences Education 16.4 (2017): ar56.

Bermant, Gordon. “Working with(out) a net: improvisational theater and enhanced well-being.” Frontiers in psychology 4 (2013): 929.

Dietert, Rodney R. “Integrating contemplative tools into biomedical science education and research training programs.” Journal of Biomedical Education 2014 (2014).

Edmondson, Amy. “Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams.” Administrative science quarterly 44.2 (1999): 350-383.

Rossing, Jonathan P., and Krista Hoffmann‐Longtin. “Improv(ing) the academy: Applied improvisation as a strategy for educational development.” To Improve the Academy 35.2 (2016): 303-325.

3.3 Interactive Workshop: (re)Connecting to Mother Earth: Courses with Land-Based Components

Presenters:
Angela Mashford-Pringle, Assistant Professor, DLSPH
De-Ann Sheppard, PhD Student at OISE in the Collaborative Specialization in Indigenous Health

A pedogogy for the anthropocene or land-based experiential learning experiences can enhance and enlighten students’ understanding of topics – especially those topics that have personal connections or awareness attached.  However, providing education ‘on the land’ ventures beyond just teaching about the ‘fixed geographical and physical space” to actually providing education that is “spiritually infused place grounded in interconnected and interdependent relationships, cultural positioning, and is highly contextualized” (Styres and Zinga, 2013, pp. 300-301). Whitehouse et al. (2014) argue that using westernized approaches to land-based education do not adequately capture Indigenous understandings and relationships to land, but the use of land-based education can decolonize and provide a space for self-determination, positive sense of identity and a mutual understanding of the importance of land. In this session, we will engage participants in ways to incorporate land-based experiences into their course syllabi. This workshop will benefit teaching faculty in all disciplines from education to social sciences to health to graduate studies.  Participants will be provided with a handout of resources and have an interactive discussion about using the lands that surround their classrooms in order for them to re-imagine new pedagogies that help students with space and place connections. Our intent is have participants become aware of being in a bigger ‘sandbox’ than Quercus or the classroom through discussion and interaction of land-based pedagogies.

References:
Styres, S., Haig-Brown, C., & Blimkie, M. (2013). Towards a Pedagogy of Land: The Urban Context. Canadian Journal of Education, 36(2), 34-67.

Whitehouse, H., Lui, F. W., Sellwood, J., Barrett, M. J., & Chigeza, P. (2014). Sea Country: Navigating Indigenous and colonial ontologies in Australian environmental education. Environmental Education Research, 20(1), 56-69.

3.4 Research on Teaching & Learning: ‘Supporting Student Learning in New Ways’

i. Thinking Holistically About Academic Integrity in a First-Year Learning Environment

Presenters:
Chester Scoville, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, English and Drama, UTM
Michael Kaler, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Robert Gillespie Academic Skills Centre, UTM
Daniela Janes, Sessional Lecturer, Department of English and Drama, UTM

Integrated Learning by nature involves teaching with a holistic view of the learner; our project addresses the issue of academic integrity by considering the broader contexts of the students. In two first-year English courses at UTM, we have been running information sessions and formative assessments on academic integrity, with the intention of helping students both to understand this central scholarly concept and to avoid plagiarism and other academic offences. Over the past two years, we have collected and analyzed data from the formative assessments and from other sources such as student surveys and focus groups, in order to gain a better and more complex understanding of students’ experiences and how they play into academic integrity. As we have done so, we have moved from an emphasis on the providing of information to an emphasis on the fostering of student wellness and stress management as key factors in the fostering of academic integrity and the prevention of academic offences; our results and an example of our new approach will be our focus. Our long-term goal is the development of skill-building modules that are transferable to multiple disciplines and contexts, thereby enhancing and facilitating the goals of Integrated Learning.

In this session, we will present our project, our motivations, the research context, and the results. By the end of the session, attendees will have developed their understanding of the role of wellness and stress management in the fostering of academic integrity, been exposed to some of the research on the topic, learned about one approach to addressing these issues, and shared in our planning and lessons learned. We will also provide an example of a student stress management module for attendees to reflect upon.

References:
Adam, L., Anderson, V., & Spronken-Smith, R. (2017). ‘It’s not fair’: policy discourses and students’ understandings of plagiarism in a New Zealand university. Higher Education, 74(1), 17+. Retrieved from http://link.galegroup.com.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/apps/doc/A493823891/AONE?u=utoronto_main&sid=AONE&xid=0abd4b4a

Christensen Hughes, J.,M., & McCabe, D. L. (2006). Understanding academic misconduct. The Canadian Journal of Higher Education, 36(1), 49-63. Retrieved from http://myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/docview/221213935?accountid=14771

Griffith, J. (2013). Pedagogical over punitive: The academic integrity websites of ontario universities. The Canadian Journal of Higher Education, 43(1), 1-22. Retrieved from http://myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/docview/1437956243?accountid=14771

Ip, E. J., Nguyen, K., Shah, B. M., Doroudgar, S., & Bidwal, M. K. (2016). Motivations and predictors of cheating in pharmacy school. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 80(8). Retrieved from http://link.galegroup.com.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/apps/doc/A488820586/AONE?u=utoronto_main&sid=AONE&xid=4dd99b7f

ii. Learning by Playing: Crisis Simulation and Assessment

Presenter: Luba Levin-Banchik, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Political Science

Does teaching with simulations enhance students’ knowledge? This study shows it does: simulations are an effective teaching tool. Simulations, which are related to experiential learning, provide students with an opportunity to integrate theoretical knowledge with real-life events. Simulations let students learn by playing and encourage them to actively engage with their peers and the learning material. To assess the value of simulations as a teaching tool, this study examines the effectiveness of teaching with simulations, compared to active learning without simulations. It utilizes an anonymous extra-credit pop quiz on four topics, each taught with a different method: (1) simulation and in-class debriefing; (2) simulation only; (3) in-class discussions with an accompanying research essay; and (4) in-class discussions only. The study presents a range of assessment techniques used in the simulation literature and suggests the use of the anonymous extra-credit pop quiz, a simple and familiar teaching practice, but an overlooked assessment tool for simulations. This study presents a new “Iranian Plane” simulation developed to teach decision making in crisis situations. It analyzes empirical evidence on knowledge retention with and without simulations based on students’ performance on the pop quiz 3 months after the simulation. The analysis shows that learning with both simulation and debriefing attains teaching goals. A simulation with a debriefing was the most effective teaching mode for knowledge retention in terms of students’ performance on the quiz. A simulation only was almost as successful, but learning without a simulation was less efficient. The study concludes with implications for using simulations in different disciplinary contexts, such as history, political science, geography, and data science.

References:

Levin-Banchik, Luba. (2018). Assessing Knowledge Retention, With and Without Simulations. Journal of Political Science Education, forthcoming. (Published online: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15512169.2017.1405355)

Ben-Yehuda, Hemda, Luba Levin-Banchik and Chanan Naveh. (2015). World Politics Simulations in a Global Information Age. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

Crookall, David. 2010. “Serious Games, Debriefing, and Simulation/Gaming as a Discipline.” Simulation & Gaming 41 (6):898–820. doi:10.1177/1046878110390784

Glazier, Rebecca A. 2011. “Running Simulations Without Ruining Your Life: Simple Ways to Incorporate Active Learning Into Your Teaching.” Journal of Political Science Education 7 (4):375–393. doi:10.1080/15512169.2011.615188

iii. Integration of Movement Breaks into the Undergraduate Classroom: A Snapshot of the Study Design and Methods

Presenters:
Ananya Tina Banerjee, Assistant Professor, Dalla Lana School of Public Health
Jackie L. Bender, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, Assistant Professor
Alyona Koulanova, Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education, M.Sc Student
Lindsay Carlsson, Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, PhD Candidate

There is preliminary evidence to suggest that offering students short movement breaks during lectures improves student engagement and learning (1,2). In prior study we demonstrated that integrating movement breaks in graduate classes improves social wellbeing during class (having good relationships with instructors and peers with feelings of belonging and connectedness) and results in positive course evaluations (3). Little attention has been paid to incorporating movement breaks into the undergraduate classroom. The aim of this quasi-experimental study funded by the Learning and Education Advancement Fund (LEAF) is to examine the impact of 3-minute video-led movement breaks (e.g. stretching, mindfulness and dance) on student engagement in undergraduate courses at UofT (4). Students were involved in the design and implementation of the study. Six course instructors participated in the project during the Fall 2017 term, with courses spanning diverse faculties and all three campuses. All six courses participated in the intervention arm of the project. A total of 686 students participated in the movement break intervention and completed pre- and post-questionnaires. Informal feedback from course instructors and students has been very positive. Class observations (2 per class performed by a project team member using a standardized template) confirmed that students and instructors actively participated in the movement break intervention. For the Winter 2018 term, nine instructors have consented to include movement breaks in their classes and two will act as controls. The discussion will describe the involvement of students in the study design, intervention and toolkit, and barriers and facilitators to successful implementation.

References:
Lengal TaK, M.: The kinesthetic classroom: Teaching and learning through movement. Thousand Oaks, C, US: Corwin Press; 2010.

Cressy, J. The Roles of Physical Activity and Health in Enhancing Student Engagement: Implications for Leadership in Post Secondary Education. College Quarterly 2011, 14(4):1-44.

Bodner, N. Public health professors inject physical activity into the classroom. Dalla Lana School of Public Health News. Published Feb 17th, 2015. http://www.dlsph.utoronto.ca/page/public-health-professors-inject-physical-activity-classroom

Tambunan, A. It’s time to get moving. The Varsity. Published Sept 17, 2017. https://thevarsity.ca/2017/09/17/its-time-to-get-moving/

3.5 Symposium-You: ‘STEM to STEAM; Reflection Fatigue’

i. Full “STEAM” Ahead? Stories and Challenges from STEM to STEAM

Presenter: Vicki Zhang, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Statistical Sciences

STEAM = STEM + Art. At the Actuarial Science program in the Department of Statistics, we have been experimenting with STEAM by introducing story-telling component into a second-year core course. This narrative pedagogy is aimed to connect the seemingly dry mathematical topics to real-world scenarios and thus provide students with a clear sense of relevance and an intrinsic purpose of learning. We also collaborated with Center of Drama to create video and audio clips to help deliver the narrative.

Participants of the session are highly encouraged to bring and share their own STEAM stories and experiments. The overarching discussion question of this session is how best to facilitate interdisciplinary collaborations involving STEAM, both from the institutional and grass-roots perspective. Some discussion points (can be extended to incorporate participants’ disciplines):

1. Arts and story-telling have a powerful role to play in (re)connecting math with human lives and lived experiences, so that the key players may learn to ground the use of math tools in the interest of the public. What kind of support do instructors need from the institutions to further develop such pedagogy?

2. What are some typical roadblocks? How have you overcome the challenges that arose from such collaborations?

3. What can we do to change the academic culture that often views this sort of collaboration as “creative” but lacking in rigour or even “seriousness” that had long defined academia?

4. In a culture that heavily focuses on obtaining credentials and becoming “employment-ready”, some students may be resistant to looking beyond standard textbooks and standardized tests. What kind of STEAM design may help mitigate students’ apathy and resistance?

ii. Reflecting on Reflection – Why We Need Next Generation Reflective Activities Now To Avoid “Reflection Fatigue” Later

Presenters:
William Ju, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Human Biology Program
Alon Eisenstein, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Impact Centre
Kimberly Elias, Project Manager, Student Experience

Critical reflection is the requisite activity in most forms of integrated, community engaged, experiential, and service learning (ICES learning). While this structured activity is an integral part of student self-assessment of the learning experience and its impact, most reflective activities are variations of the same ideas from implementing community events, journals, blogs and final poster presentations.

In this session the challenges in creating meaningful reflective activities for use before, during and especially after ICES learning events will be discussed. The question that this symposium will specifically try to address: what could next generation critical reflection look like through the lens of making elements of reflection more “game-based” as well as other new approaches that involve collaborative reflection? How can these new reflection pieces be used to avoid “reflection fatigue” by creating more diverse reflection pieces as more of these ICES learning models gain wider usage? The moderators will discuss some of their reflective models including game show formats for post-ICES reflections, online community murals to share key observations during community engaged learning and the resulting projections web (i.e. how these observations can be used by learners after the project is completed) as well as inner circle-outer circle (also called the “fish bowl”) that can be used at the start of an experiential learning assignment. We also want to hear suggestions and ideas from all attendees using a Polleverywhere link created for the session and then collected and shared using a free online whiteboard App known as Stoodle that will be provided as a summary after the session.

3.6 Lightning Talks: ‘Skills Development and Career Exploration’

i. Leveraging Reflection to Integrate Academic and Career Learning

Presenters:
Atifa Karim, Career Educator, Career Exploration and Education, Division of Student Life
Mary Stefanidis, Career Educator, Career Exploration and Education, Division of Student Life

As the focus on integrated learning experiences (ILEs) in higher education continues to grow, so too is the need to ensure the quality of these experiences. As Martin and Hughes (2009) emphasize, reflection – defined as “understanding one’s own philosophy and re-evaluating it in light of experiences” (Stirling et al. 2016) – is not only critical to the success of ILEs, but it is also important that it occurs before, during, and after the learning experience.

This presentation will highlight two examples of how faculty and staff’s collaboration with Career Exploration & Education enabled a more integrative process for students to engage in a thoughtful analysis of their placement. The first involves collaboration with the Department of Geography as part of its fourth year undergraduate practicum course. The second involves supporting a co-curricular based graduate placement program within the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education. Through these two examples, we will highlight teaching practices that have proved effective for facilitating students’ reflection and career learning before, and during an integrated learning experience (ILE).

In addition, this presentation will describe the value of coupling ILEs with career education. As Leong (2012) notes, incorporating “career development learning” helps students understand themselves, including a stronger sense of their strengths, abilities, skills, and knowledge, as well as a deeper understanding of the range of career options and how to make informed career decisions. As such, this session will outline how faculty and staff can collaborate with Career Exploration & Education to support career learning.

References:
Leong, R. (2012). Incorporating career development learning in a business work integrated learning framework. Proceedings from the Australian Collaborative Education Network National Conference. Springvale: Australian Collaborative Education Network.

Martin, A. & Hughes, H. (2009). How to Make the Most of Work Integrated Learning: A Guide for Students, Lecturers, and Supervisors. Palmerston North NZ: Massey University Press.

Stirling, A., Kerr, G., Banwell, J., MacPherson, E., and Heron, A. (2016). A Practical Guide for Work-Integrated Learning: Effective Practices to Enhance the Educational Quality of Structured Work Experiences Offered through Colleges and Universities. Toronto: Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario.

ii. Collaborative Pedagogies for Supporting Undergraduate Research Writers

Presenters:
Liz Newbery, Sessional (CUPE 3902, Unit 3)/CLTA, Writing Centre, New College
June Larkin, Women and Gender Studies/Equity Studies, New College, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream
S. Trimble, Women and Gender Studies, Assistant Professor, CLTA

The Equity Studies (ES) program and the Women and Gender Studies (WGS) program have both introduced 4th year thesis courses designed to increase undergraduate research opportunities. Each course is taught by an instructor who teaches research skills while supervising up to 18 individual thesis projects. Because WGS and ES are interdisciplinary programs, many research projects are outside the instructors own disciplinary expertise, a situation that can present challenges for providing quality supervision. In this presentation we discuss the value of inter-program and Writing Centre collaborations for addressing this concern and for supporting students in interdisciplinary undergraduate thesis courses more generally.

Previous writing pedagogy scholarship on undergraduate theses has explored students’ experiences of tackling independent research (Greenbank & Penketh, 2009) and the use of workshops and self-facilitated writing groups (White & Miller, 2015). Our model differs from these approaches as we focus on the benefits of embedding writing faculty into thesis courses and collaborating across programs. In describing this team approach, we share collaborative writing/research activities that instructors will find useful for their own practice. We also share strategies we used to model how research and writing are ongoing conversations. In assessing our collaboration we discuss the successes/challenges that were generated through our team approach and the ways our diverse academic backgrounds allowed us, collectively, to better support students

References:
Greenbank, P. & Penketh, C. (2009). Student autonomy and reflections on researching and writing the undergraduate dissertation. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 33(4), 463–472. doi:10.1080/03098770903272537

White, S. & Miller, E. (2015). Senior-thesis writing groups: Putting students in the driver’s seat. WLN, 39(5-6), 1-5.

iii. Integration of Experiential Learning in the Curriculum Redesign of an Undergraduate Laboratory Course

Presenter: Suzanne Wood, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Psychology

Laboratory courses are an important experiential learning opportunity for undergraduates. Benefits from research experiences include the refinement of critical thinking skills and clarification of career goals (Russell, Hancock, & McCullough, 2007; Seymour, Hunter, Laursen, & Deantoni, 2004), as well as enhanced motivation to complete academic programs (Graham, Frederick, Byars-Winston, Hunter, & Handelsman, 2013), particularly in underrepresented groups (Nagda, Gregerman, Jonides, von Hippel, & Lerner, 1998). Laboratory courses offer our busy students a brief, hands-on view into the world of research. Given our time constraint of three-hour per week class meetings, how can we maximize this opportunity for experiential learning? This talk will detail the curriculum redesign of an undergraduate biopsychology laboratory course and allow for reflection upon incorporating experiential learning into your classes. The redesign incorporated multiple innovations. Experiments were restructured to maximize skills training within class hours. Significant time was allocated to writing training and statistical analysis. Finally, career exploration was also included as a way to reflect upon how the skills learned in the course may be transferred to the non-academic job market. A representative from the Career Centre facilitated a short workshop in class and coordinated an on-site visit to a local neuroscience laboratory. Students attended the department’s Masters’ students’ poster session, followed by a Q-and-A session with graduate students, who discussed their paths to graduate school. These additions to the course were made possible with help from the U of T community, which serves as a stellar, often untapped resource for contributions to our classes.

References:
Graham, M. J., Frederick, J., Byars-Winston, A., Hunter, A., & Handelsman, J. (2013). Increasing Persistence of College Students in STEM. Science, 341, 1455-1456.

Nagda, B. A., Gregerman, S. R., Jonides, J., von Hippel, W., & Lerner, J. S. (1998). Undergraduate Student-Faculty Research Partnerships Affect Student Retention. The Review of Higher Education, 22(1), 55-72.

Russell, S. H., Hancock, M. P., & McCullough, J. (2007). Benefits of Undergraduate Research Experiences. Science, 316, 548-549

Seymour, E., Hunter, A., Laursen, S. L., & Deantoni, T. (2004). Establishing the Benefits of Research Experiences for Undergraduates in the Sciences: First Findings from a Three-Year Study. Science Education, 88(4), 493-534. doi:10.1002/sce.10131

3.7 Lightning Talks: ‘Making the Connections’

i. The Playful Classroom: Using Toy Models as an Experiential Approach to Teaching Theory

Presenter: Karen Bernhardt-Walther, Assistant Professor, Economics

The literature on teaching often contrasts theoretical learning with experiential, hands-on learning. But to its practitioners – experts in the field developing theory – theory is experiential and hands-on.

Can we bring this experience into our classrooms?

I believe we can – by using Toy Models. Toy models are Minimal Working examples of a theory. The toy model’s representation may be numerically, graphically, or formal. A toy model lacks the original theory’s generality or robustness, but it conveys the principal mechanism. And toy models invite to play and experimentation. Through play, students engage with the mechanism, exploring its assumptions and limitations.

By teaching students to build toy models from theoretical papers, we enable them to approach (new) research papers. By teaching them to build toy models describing real-world observations, students start to experience developing models and theory themselves.

In this lightening talk, I will share my experience in teaching with toy models, how I combined it with interleaving and distributed teaching, what I’ve learned and what I will try next. I will draw my examples from teaching economics, but I believe the teaching strategy is equally applicable in other disciplines where theories are expressed formally and mathematically.

The strategy of “toy models” can be used for individual classes, e.g., facilitating the transition from textbook to academic papers, or for an entire (survey) course that uses theoretical papers as a primary source.

References:
Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger III, and Mark A. McDaniel. 2014. “Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning.” Belknap Press.

John Dunlosky, Katherine A. Rawson, Elizabeth J J. Marsh, Mitchell J. Nathan, and Daniel T. Willingham. 2013. “Improving Students’ Learning With Effective Learning Techniques: Promising Directions From Cognitive and Educational Psychology.” Psychological Science in the Public Interest.

Andrew J. Monaco. 2017. “The economics of online dating: A course in economic modeling.” The Journal of Economic Education.

Doug Rohrer, Robert F Dedrick, and Sandra Stershic. 2015. “Interleaved practice improves mathematics learning.” Journal of Educational Psychology.

ii. Community-Based Service-Learning in the MD Program: Meaningful Connections with Community and Academy

Presenter: Roxanne Wright, Experiential Learning Lead, MD Program

In the MD Program, all students participate in Community-Based Service-Learning (CBSL) placements through the longitudinal 2-year Health in Community curriculum. Beginning in 2018, CBSL placements will use a novel model which seeks to create deeper academy/community relationships by matching faculty (~74 family physicians and allied health professionals) directly with community partners who host the placements. This presentation will discuss the consultation process used to develop our structure, and how it diverges from other service-learning delivery models. We will discuss the logistical and pedagogical underpinnings of our approach, including its basis in critical service-learning, and the curricular elements which comprise the experience outside of community engagement (tutorial sessions, one of which is taught in the community and one of which is co-taught with community partners in the classroom; readings, reflective assignments, case studies, presentations & conference-style Community Forum culminating event). We will also discuss our strategies for faculty development, for both community partners and physician/allied health faculty, and possible strategies for how principles of this model may be broadly applied.

References:
Stewart, T., & Wubbena, Z. (2014). An overview of infusing service-learning in medical education. International Journal of Medical Education, 5, 147–156. http://doi.org/10.5116/ijme.53ae.c907

Mitchell, Tania D. Using a Critical Service-Learning Approach to Facilitate Civic Identity Development
by Mitchell, Tania D

Theory Into Practice, ISSN 0040-5841, 01/2015, Volume 54, Issue 1, pp. 20 – 28

iii. Bridging the Gap between the Classroom and Research Laboratory through Guided-Inquiry Experiments

Presenter: Barbora Morra, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Chemistry

In most undergraduate laboratory courses, students perform rigorously tested experiments with proven reliability and reproducibility. In addition, students often work independently to perform the same recipe-type experiment as their peers. Unfortunately these methods do not reflect academic or industrial research laboratory environments, where scientists work together to discover new findings and employ them to interesting applications. To address this discrepancy between undergraduate laboratory training and the skills required for research environments, several new experiments have been developed for a second-year undergraduate chemistry course (CHM249HS). These new experiments help to bridge the gap between the classroom and research laboratory by introducing students to real-world problems, student-led decision making, and collaborating with their peers while working towards a common goal. This talk will discuss the general approach employed while developing these new experiments and evaluating their learning outcomes, which can be adopted by instructors in other applied science courses.

4:30pm-5:30pm
RECEPTION & CLOSING REMARKS
Tiff Macklem, Dean, Rotman School of Management
Cheryl Regehr, Provost, University of Toronto