Workshops

Safieh Moghaddam, Professor, Faculty of Arts & Science

Join this workshop on Zoom.

College and university can be overwhelming for many students, especially first-year students. Building strategies to help them improve learning retention is essential, particularly in online environments. 

This workshop will focus on active learning strategies and activities that boost learning retention and help students transform newly acquired information into long-term knowledge that they can effectively recall and activate. Participants will learn how to implement activities that help students make the necessary connections between newly acquired information and prior knowledge to enhance learning retention rates. Some activities include brainstorming, think-pair-share, concept maps, scaffolded learning, reflection, peer-group-based activities, jigsaw technique, gallery walk, and peer instruction using audience-response systems. We will also present easy-to-apply strategies for assessing student learning retention, such as ticket-out-the-door, self-assessment and reflection activities, frequent exercises and low-stake quizzes.

Carmen Schlamb, PhD, Professor, School of English & Liberal Studies and Lara McInnis, Professor, Teaching & Learning Centre

Join this workshop on Zoom.

In the spring of 2023, 20 faculty from across Seneca’s program areas gathered together on the King Campus grounds and in the woods at Haliburton Forest to take part in a SoTL research project focused on what faculty feel they need to teach sustainability in the classroom. The project was by faculty about faculty, with the research team and all the participants either full-time, partial-load or part-time professors. The project investigated if exploration of diverse modes of inquiry (e.g., arts-based, narrative, self-study, land-based, etc.) helps support faculty understanding of sustainability and informs their thinking on how to teach sustainability in the classroom. The project measured participant feelings (before and after engagement) regarding their knowledge of sustainability and their feelings of readiness to teach sustainability. 

This session explores the design, framework and evolution of this research project, and shares the findings of the research highlighting what faculty feel they need to do this important work. 

Hadi Majzoub, Chair, School of Environmental and Civil Engineering Technology, and Mahipal Jadeja, Professor, School of Environmental and Civil Engineering Technology

Join this workshop on Zoom.

In this discussion panel, Chair Hadi Majzoub and Professor Mahipal Jadeja discuss their experience going through the Curriculum Integration process and will share some exemplars of the recommendations resulting from curriculum integration. Join Hadi and Mahipal for an engaging discussion and Q&A about their CI experience.

Nick Falcis, Cheryl Svensson and Siobhan Bell, Professors, Nanji Foundation School of Nursing

Join this workshop on Zoom.

In this session Nick, Cheryl and Siobhan will discuss the benefits of merged course shells to enhance integrated teaching approaches and positive student outcomes. The essence of merged boards offers enriched curriculum development, combines resources, improves rigor of evaluations and stimulates team discussion and support of the course. 

Ana Belen Gonzalez Perez, Professor, SLP&A, SELs, Open Educational Resources Ranger (eCampus Ontario)

Join this workshop on Zoom.

Creating and adopting Open Educational Resources (OERs) can be a transformative experience for educators and students alike. However, concerns about quality and the perceived workload often deter instructors from fully embracing OERs. In this session, Ana will share her personal journey of evaluating and adapting OERs for two distinct courses: LGE121 (Spanish Basic Skills 1) and PHL108 (The Meaning of Life). She will also discuss how she successfully adapted two OERs and secured grant funding as well as her ongoing experience with another OER in her Spanish classes. 

Ana will explore practical strategies for enhancing OER quality, including content evaluation, customization, and collaboration, with an emphasis the importance of iterative improvements and shared lessons learned from a year of using an OER in her Spanish classes. 

Participants will gain insights into effective OER adoption and discover how to avoid common pitfalls. Join Ana as she demystifies OERs, celebrates their potential, and empowers educators to create enriching learning experiences for their students.

Oleg Legusov, International Student Immigration Specialist, International Student Services

Join the workshop on Zoom.

With changing demographics, Canadian institutions of higher education are under pressure to address the challenges of student, faculty, and staff diversity.  Despite growing numbers of international students at Canada’s colleges and polytechnics, this group has historically been underrepresented. The intersectionality of their minority-status characteristics makes their experience complex. 

A recent qualitative study of 35 international students and graduates from 15 countries designed to explore their experiences through the lens of equity, diversity, and inclusion showed that despite a high degree of cultural diversity, some of them experienced stereotyping. They tended to engage less in classroom discussions, and many were unaware of college resources and services. Consequently, they had difficulty adjusting to life at college and life in Canada.  The research looked at students’ experiences from a critical-theory perspective and, therefore, focused primarily on the challenges that international students face. Furthermore, only students’ perspective was examined. 

The objective of this workshop is twofold: to share the challenges international students face with faculty members and to obtain their feedback on the issues raised by the students.

Moderator: Pakize Uludag, Program Manager, Global Learning

Panelists: Jess Davidson, Professor, School of Marketing, Hubert Rau,Professor, School of Accounting & Finance, Linda Moroziuk, Professor, School of Creative Arts & Animation, Janet Santagada, Professor, School of English & Liberal Studies

Join the workshop on Zoom.

This interactive panel presentation will explore the transformative power of Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL), an innovative teaching and learning model where faculty partners collaborate virtually to design a module integrated into existing courses. Through the lenses of four Seneca faculty members partnered with professors from institutions in Brazil, Germany, Ireland, and Belgium, attendees will gain insights into how COIL cultivates intercultural competence and enhances student learning outcomes. The COIL stories presented will highlight the rich tapestry of cross-cultural interactions and global learning opportunities encountered throughout the design and implementation of COIL projects. These narratives will also shed light on the potential challenges overcome, enabling attendees to glean insights and exchange best practices. We aim to provide a platform for interactive discussions and a Q&A session at the end to inspire future COIL collaborations.

Yvonne Ng-Gerritsen, Professor & Program Coordinator, School of Health Sciences, Catrina Ascenuik, Senior Instructional Designer, Program Quality, and Elana Freeman, Senior Instructional Designer, Program Quality

Join this workshop on Zoom.

In this session, the primary researcher will share the results of the SoTL project, as developed for the DTR program, by examining student and faculty data from Winter 2023 to Fall 2024. Throughout the presentation, members from the Program Quality team will engage participants on discussion topics, such as how this study/methodology could be implemented in other program areas.   This research aimed to study the impact of scaffolded authentic assessments in Therapeutic Recreation. This project supports the development of professional knowledge and skills in students completing their baccalaureate degree in Therapeutic Recreation (DTR), bridging theory and practice. The intention is to support the realization of competencies, upon graduation, for practice as therapeutic recreation professionals.   This project is initiated by feedback from the 2021 Ministerial consent renewal regarding the assessments and how they meet degree level standards and TR competencies. The results from this project will be used to support the 18-month report back to the Ministry and PEQAB.

Wai Chu Cheng, Manager, Sustainability

Join this workshop on Zoom.

The Seneca campus is like a small city supporting our diverse community with its infrastructure and operations, which present great opportunities for students to learn about real world problems and sustainability challenges. Through utilizing the campus as a “living lab”, students from multidisciplinary programs investigate the problems, test ideas and provide solutions in different areas of the campus, including energy and emissions, waste, water, food and dining, transportation, campus engagement, grounds, among others.

In this session, Wai Chu Cheng from the Office of Sustainability will introduce the Living Lab Program, which is created to provide you as faculty with practical support in various ways, from advising on the Living Lab project design to connecting with the operations team to providing access to campus data. The Living Lab project can be completed in the form of capstone projects, class projects, or internships.

Mary Sorkhabi, Manager, Academic Programs, and Taunya Tremblay, Professor, School of English & Liberal Studies

Join this workshop on Zoom.

In this session, Mary Sorkhabi and Tauyna Tremblay present their unique approaches to ungrading, what they learned in their practice this year, and what they plan to change moving forward. They hope to demonstrate the varied approaches to the broad concept of ungrading, and analyze the possibilities and limitations of their specific attempts this school year.