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Message from the Vice-Provost
As we bundle up for the winter semester, I wish everyone a warm and energizing return to the classroom. This month, I'm excited to share several initiatives from our office, including details on submitting a LEAF Seed Expression of Interest for winter 2025, upcoming deadlines for institutional teaching awards and news on our office's experiential learning and curriculum design initiatives.
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Although we had to postpone this January’s Discovery Series session, we look forward to rescheduling it for the spring. In the meantime, we are excited to offer a new session in February. Read on to learn more.
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Teaching Awards & Grants
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Call for Expressions of Interest: LEAF Seed Grants
We’re pleased to share that we’re currently accepting Expressions of Interest for LEAF Seed Projects until Thursday, February 27.
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LEAF aims to enhance the learning experiences of undergraduate students in first-entry divisions by supporting projects that anticipate, leverage and create positive changes in classrooms and curricula. Our 2024-25 priority areas include: Student Success, Equitable and Inclusive Teaching, Technology in the Classroom and Experiential Learning.
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Seed grants (up to $10,000 per year for 3 years) are intended to encourage experimentation at the local level, either within a course or a set of courses, as a means of fostering small-scale enhancements or pilots with the potential for future scalability.
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Discovery Series III: From Textbooks to Play: Innovative Approaches to Teaching Spatial Relationships
Friday, February 28 from 10:00-11:30 a.m. via Governing Council Chambers (in-person) or Microsoft Teams (online)
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Our next Discovery Series of the academic year 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.
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Call for Nominations: Teaching Awards
There are several institutional and external teaching awards with upcoming nomination deadlines. Consider nominating an exceptional colleague or colleagues for one of these awards:
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Call for Nominations: TATP Teaching Excellence Awards
Nominations for the TATP Teaching Excellence Awards are due on Friday, February 14! Celebrate great teaching and nominate someone making a difference in the classroom.
TA and BIPOC TA Teaching Excellence Awards
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CI Teaching Excellence Award: Departments can nominate a course instructor by submitting an online form.
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Generative AI
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Register for the next AI Roundup - Emerging Trends
Thursday, February 20 from 12:00-1:00 p.m. via Microsoft Teams
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All U of T faculty, librarians and staff who would find this content helpful are welcome to attend.
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Curriculum Development
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Curriculum Development Needs Assessment
We're excited to announce an upcoming needs assessment project being undertaken by Jessie Richards, Curriculum Development Specialist at the OVPIUE. This project aims to enhance curriculum development at the University of Toronto by exploring options for proactive, broadly applicable supports and/or guidance for academic units and other stakeholders involved in curriculum development processes. Through a series of consultations with stakeholders to understand challenges and opportunities in this space, the Office of the Vice-Provost, Innovations in Undergraduate Education will aim to develop targeted strategies and resources that ultimately enhance the quality and effectiveness of our curricula.
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Digital Transformation
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Riipen Available for 2025
If you are interested in “micro-experiential learning” involving curriculum-embedded projects for your students, consider Riipen as an avenue to connect with companies and non-profits looking for university partners. This service, available to the University of Toronto through the RBC FutureLaunch program, facilitates collaborative projects with community organizations and businesses by helping with the matching process, project set up and ongoing coordination. Students benefit from direct feedback from employers.
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Teaching & Learning
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University of Toronto’s Teaching and Learning Symposium (TLS): Teaching and Learning for Human Flourishing
Monday, May 12 & Tuesday, May 13, 2025
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TLS2025 is considering approaches to our work that support human flourishing. What current practices can we celebrate and what new or different paths can we explore that will both strengthen us as individuals and better support our work with students and within communities? Teaching and Learning for Human Flourishing invites open conversation about the ways we, as both leaders and learners, can thrive. Join us in co-creating a symposium that not only seeks to address today’s challenges but also paves the way for a hopeful, human-centered future in higher education.
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Community-Engaged Learning (CEL) Faculty Roundtable:
Making the Work Visible: CEL in the Teaching Stream
Friday, February 14, 2025 from 11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m
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The Centre for Community Partnership's upcoming roundtable is primarily aimed at Teaching Stream faculty who teach CEL courses, but all are welcome.
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Seasoned community-engaged professors address the following questions: How might instructors articulate the extent and value of the relational and logistical work, and the innovation it takes to deliver CEL courses? How can instructors best capture the impacts of their pedagogy on students, community partners and their academic disciplines? What practices can instructors adopt to document and communicate these impacts effectively? With Professors Ahmed Allahwala, Michelle Arnot, Rubén Gaztambide-Fernandez and David Roberts.
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News from the OVPIUE
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Welcoming Sania Hameed, Special Projects Officer, Teaching Initiatives (+ Experiential Learning Conversations)
We're pleased to share that Sania Hameed has joined the OVPIUE as the Special Projects Officer, Teaching Initiatives. Sania has worked at the University in a breadth of areas, including career services, experiential learning, teaching and learning, and undergraduate student experience. At the OVPIUE, she will focus on projects supporting experiential learning (EL) and undergraduate research, and will be reaching out to individuals in the EL space this term to introduce herself, deepen her understanding of the current EL landscape across U of T and leverage these learnings to prioritize future EL initiatives. Please join us in welcoming Sania to our office.
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