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Discovery Series

The Office of the Vice-Provost, Innovations in Undergraduate Education (OVPIUE) is pleased to announce the Discovery Series for 2025-26. This series brings together our teaching and learning community to share learnings and insights from initiatives, awards and grants supported by our office. Each session will feature faculty and staff for an interdivisional conversation focused on teaching and learning approaches and practices. Three sessions will be offered each academic year in a hybrid format.

In designing this series, the OVPIUE positions itself as a learner rather than an expert in the field. We strive to engage with our teaching and learning community in an ongoing process of collective self-education and communication and as such welcome feedback, comments and additional support resources to help further our collective growth.

Current Discovery Series

2025-2026

Transforming Student Engagement Through Targeted Curricular Innovation

Monday 2 March from 1:00-2:30 p.m. via Governing Council Chambers, Simcoe Hall (in-person) or Microsoft Teams (online)

This Discovery Series session showcases two projects that emphasize how targeted, responsive curricular innovations can enhance student engagement, address knowledge gaps and reshape learning experiences in traditionally challenging subject areas. Examining learnings from these curricular projects – one in symbolic logic within Philosophy and another in engineering hardware design – we will consider how reframing subject matter and enhancing student engagement can bridge key disciplinary gaps within academic programs, simultaneously driving student success and program balance

Panelists:

  • Alex Koo, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Department of Philosophy , Faculty of Arts & Science and University of Toronto Mississauga
  • Sean Hum, Professor, The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering , Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Moderator: Ken Derry, Professor, Teaching Stream, Department of Historical Studies, University of Toronto Mississauga

Welcome Remarks: Susan McCahan, Vice Provost, Innovations in Undergraduate Education

Please register here

Description:

Join us for a conversation on civil discourse: what it means, why it matters, and how we can meaningfully engage with it in our classrooms. Building on the University’s Administrative Response to the Report of the Working Group on Civil Discourse, this session will also introduce LEAF+ for Civil Discourse, a new funding opportunity for instructors ready to explore new approaches to civil discourse, or amplify the impact of their current practices.

The panel discussion will feature real examples of civil discourse in action, expanding shared understandings of how this can take shape and offering strategies to facilitate it in the classroom. Faculty members, each part of the University’s Working Group on Civil Discourse, will share their perspectives on a central question: What is the value of creating spaces where faculty and students can think out loud together in the classroom? Drawing from their own teaching experiences, panelists will discuss both the state and the stakes of fostering civil discourse, offering inspiration for potential LEAF+ applicants and anyone interested in creating more thoughtful, inclusive classroom dialogue.

Moderator: Randy Boyagoda, Provostial Advisor on Civil Discourse, and Vice-Dean, Undergraduate, Faculty of Arts & Science

Introductions:

Susan McCahan, Vice Provost, Innovations in Undergraduate Education, and Associate Vice President & Vice Provost, Digital Strategies

Joshua Barker, Vice-Provost, Graduate Research and Education, and Dean, School of Graduate Studies

Panelists:

Alison Thompson, Associate Professor, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy

James John, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts & Science

Previous Discovery Series Sessions

2024-2025

Description:

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is at the forefront of many discussions in academic units. In our first session of the 2024-25 Discovery Series, we will explore two innovative projects that involve nuanced conversations with students about AI. One team is training future builders of systems to assess the ethical implications of the technologies they are creating. Their approach is to embed modules on ethics and technology into select courses across the computer science curriculum, including three AI courses. The other team is working to train chemistry students on the potential uses and limitations of generative AI in the context of developing formal writing skills. As part of this conversation, considerations are given to academic integrity concerns, ethical usage and the potential for biases and hallucinations with AI.

Moderator: Karen Reid, Professor, Teaching Stream, Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Arts & Science, and Co-Chair, Teaching & Learning, Task Force on Artificial Intelligence

Panelists: From Embedded Ethics Initiative in the Faculty of Arts & Science, and recipients of the Northrop Frye Teams Award in 2024: ​

Steven Coyne, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts & Science

Shelia McIlraith, Professor, Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Arts & Science​

Diane Horton, Professor, Teaching Stream, Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Arts & Science​

David Liu, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream and Associate Chair, Undergraduate Studies, Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Arts & Science​

From “A bottom-up approach to support the development of writing and communication skills in Chemistry,” LEAF Impact, University of Toronto Scarborough:​

Effie Sauer, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, University of TorontoScarborough ​

Kris Kim, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough​

Marco Zimmer-De Iuliis, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough

Description:

The session explores approaches to teaching spatial relationships looking at ways to transform concepts once confined to textbooks into active, play-filled learning opportunities. The first project, Anat-O-MEE, demonstrates how 3D technologies and gamified elements can transform complex topics (such as anatomical relationships) into engaging, interactive learning experiences. The second project, Feminist Sports Club, emphasizes the role of experiential learning in fostering embodied understanding, engaging students in “sporty” activities that deepen their spatial awareness while also building community and inclusion.

Moderator: ​

Vivienne Luk, Interim Associate Dean, Academic Experience, and Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto Mississauga  ​

Panelists:​

Judi Laprade, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Division of Anatomy, Temerty Faculty of Medicine​

Kristina Lisk, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Division of Anatomy, Temerty Faculty of Medicine​

S. Trimble, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Women and Gender Studies Institute, Faculty of Arts & Science​

2023-2024

Description:

This session brings into conversation Indigenous and non-Indigenous faculty members as well as members of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation to examine ways to meaningfully share Indigenous perspectives and ways of knowing / being in our ‘classrooms’. Panelists will discuss various pedagogical approaches including land-based learning, two-eyed seeing and the creation of safe spaces. In doing so, this session underscores the importance of meaningful and reciprocal partnerships to share Indigenous perspectives, experiences and epistemologies with our students.  ​

Moderator: ​Brenda Wastasecoot, Assistant Professor, Centre for Indigenous Studies, Faculty of Arts & Science 

Panelists: ​

Members of the Mississaugas  of the Credit First Nation, University of Toronto Mississauga

Angela Mashford-Pringle, Assistant Professor, Tenure-Stream, and Associate Director, Waakebiness-BryceInstitute for Indigenous Health Director, Collaborative Specialization in Indigenous Health, Dalla Lana School of Public Health ​

Sherry Fukuzawa, Assistant Professor, Teaching-Stream, Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto Mississauga 

Description:

Many units are in the process of undertaking discussions about how to meaningfully address an ongoing commitment to principles of equity, diversity, inclusion, access and Indigenous perspectives through their course offerings and program structures. This session brings together two projects highlighting approaches to these discussions from the level of the academic unit and division. Both projects used feedback from the University’s governance and review processes as a moment to reflect on equity, diversity, inclusion, access and Indigenous perspectives.​

Moderator: ​

Catherine Amara, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Muscle Health, and Associate Dean, Undergraduate Education, Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education​

​Panelists:​

From the Department of Political Science, Faculty of Arts & Science, and recipients of the Northrop Frye Teams Award in 2023:

​

Antoinette Handley, Professor, Department of Political Science, andVice-Dean, Graduate Education, Faculty of Arts & Science​

Dickson Eyoh, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, and Acting Principal, New College, Faculty of Arts & Science​

From University of Toronto Scarborough, and recipients of the Provost’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Fund:

​

Marc Proudfoot, Faculty Liaison, Pedagogy and Curriculum, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Office, University of Toronto Scarborough​

Varsha Patel, Assistant Dean, Student Success and Career Support,University of Toronto Scarborough​

Laura Risk, Assistant Professor, Department of Arts, Culture andMedia, University of Toronto Scarborough​

Description:

The Office of the Vice-Provost, Innovations in Undergraduate Education (OVPIUE) is pleased to announce the launch of the Discovery Series. The Series aims to help bring together our teaching and learning community as well as to share learnings from initiatives, awards and grants supported by our office. Each session will bring together faculty and staff for an interdivisional conversation to discuss teaching and learning approaches and practices. Our office will offer three sessions each academic year in a hybrid format. ​

Our final session will look at the curriculum and co-curriculum programs. Many units are in the process of undertaking discussions about how to meaningfully address an ongoing commitment to principles of equity, diversity, inclusion, access and Indigenous perspectives. This session brings together two projects highlighting approaches to designing curricular and co-curricular programs.​

Panelists will discuss the challenges encountered, the strategies employed and the outcomes attained by these programs. ​

Moderator: Bill Ju, Professor Teaching Stream, Human Biology Program, and Associate Dean, Student Affairs, Faculty of Arts & Science ​

Panelists: ​

Funké Aladejebi, Assistant Professor, Department of History, Faculty of Arts & Science​

​Emily Gilbert, Vice-Principal, University College, and Professor, Department of Geography & Planning, Faculty of Arts & Science ​

​Elham Marzi, Assistant Professor Teaching Stream, Institute for Studies in Transdisciplinary Engineering Education & Practice, Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering ​

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to stay informed about the Discovery Series, and other OVPIUE initiatives including teaching awards and grants, experiential learning and special projects.