Evolved 2023

Bio: Brenda McDermott uses an EDI lens to reflect on teaching and learning practices in post-secondary education – striving to create a sense of belonging for all students and staff. After finishing her PhD in 2015 in Communication Studies, she returned to complete a MEd. In addition to over 10+ of post-secondary teaching experience, Brenda has supported instructors with academic integrity education, writing pedagogy, universal design for learning, and assessment design. She is currently part of the interdisciplinary team examining the ethics of artificial intelligence at the University of Calgary.

Bio: John Weigelt leads Microsoft Canada’s strategic policy and technology efforts.  He helps individuals and organizations across Canada innovate with technology while avoiding the unintended consequences that might arise.  John has contributed to many technological efforts that established the foundation for the electronic services we take for granted today and he continues to lead efforts to evolve technology standards and policy.  His extensive experience in technology, business and policy provides him with a unique perspective of our technology enabled economy. 

Bio: Dr. Gervan Fearon became President of George Brown College in August 2021. Working with colleagues across the college, he aims to support career-oriented programs to meet the needs of students and the demands of employers; advance college-led research; and enhance community engagement. With a proven track record of collaboration, transformative leadership and engaging higher learning communities in a shared mission, he leads George Brown’s efforts to provide transformative education opportunities that benefit learners, industry and the greater community.  

Gervan previously served as the President and Vice-Chancellor at Brock University and at Brandon University. He has also held numerous progressive roles in post-secondary education, including Vice-President, Academic, at Brandon University; Dean of the G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education at Ryerson University; Associate Dean at York University’s Atkinson Faculty of Liberal and Professional Studies; Visiting Scholar at the University of Washington; and as an Associate Professor at York University. Gervan also has a strong teaching and research record.  

His career also included serving as the Executive Assistant to the Deputy Minister at the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and a Senior Analyst at the Treasury Board, Ontario Ministry of Finance. He has also served on numerous community boards, including Ontario Trillium Foundation, Brandon Urban Aboriginal Peoples’ Council, United Way Niagara, Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce, and the Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Toronto. He was also Co-Chair of the Niagara Region’s Community Safety and Well-Being Planning Committee, Chair of the Budget and Audit Committee of Council of Ontario Universities, and President of Tropicana Community Services.  

Gervan was a co-founder of the Canada Caribbean Institute, along with Sir Hilary Beckles, Vice-Chancellor, The University of the West Indies. Gervan is a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2013), The Michaëlle Jean Foundation Influencer Award (2017), The University of the West Indies Vice-Chancellor's Award (2020) and several other awards of recognition.    

He holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Western Ontario and received his master’s and bachelor’s of science degrees in agricultural economics from the University of Guelph. He holds a Chartered Professional Accountant designation (CPA, CGA) and Institute of Corporate Directors designation (ICD.D). 

Facilitator: Devonne Sitzer

Format: Presentation/Workshop

Title: Culturally inclusive teaching strategies - Understanding our International students

Description: As our school system becomes more international, we need more tools, ways to connect, and understanding of other cultures. In this short lecture, I will introduce some proven teaching methods I applied when I work abroad in Taiwan and share the challenges and highlights as an exchange teacher abroad.

Presentation Slides (PDF)

Facilitator: Sarika Narinesingh (she/her), Anne Song (she/her), Raj Khatri (he/him), Sharon Hauck (she/her), and Elena Chudaeva (she/her)

Format: Presentation/Workshop

Title: An Evolving Approach to UDL: Exploring Faculty’s UDL Mindset, Practices, and Barriers to UDL Implementation in the CPLS

Description: For more than a decade, UDL has informed George Brown College's training, curriculum and program design, research, communities of practice, policies, and systems-- all to support GBC's diverse student body and to create a culture that embraces UDL. As a team of five faculty-researchers, we sought to understand whether we have achieved our goal of creating a cultural shift toward UDL, specifically in the Centre for Preparatory Liberal Studies (CPLS), by assessing the degree to which faculty have and exemplify a UDL mindset. In addition to this research question, our study also sought answers to the following research questions:

• What UDL-aligned teaching practices are faculty applying in their teaching spaces?
• What are the barriers to UDL implementation?
• From the perspective of faculty, what institutional practices or strategies would encourage UDL implementation?

In our presentation, we will share a high-level overview of our study and major finding. We will also invite participants to share their answers to our study's research questions.

Presentation Slides (PDF)

Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, this session has been cancelled. Please see below for more information. 

Concurrent Session Block 1: 11:00am- 11:45am 
Title: AI, EVOLVING PEDAGOGIES AND INSTRUCTOR IDENTITY 
Facilitator: Sharmaine Itwaru (she/her)

Please follow these instructions to select a new session:

1. Open confirmation email sent from Eventbrite to the email address you provided during registration.
2. Click on the event, “evolvED”.
3. Under “General Admission” select “edit” .
4. Select the session you would like to join to replace the cancelled session.
5. Click “save”.

If you need any assistance requesting a new session, please feel free to email Sorsha.

We apologize for the inconvenience. 
 

Facilitator: Lori Stahlbrand, PhD (she/her)

Format: Panel Discussion

Title: Culinary students working for sustainability: The George Brown Chef School becomes the first Designated Organic Chef School in Canada

Description: The food sector is at the heart of the planetary crisis. It is a major contributor to climate change, responsible for one third of greenhouse gas emissions. The GBC Chef School has a role to play in training the next generation of leaders about sustainability. Creating food system change in a post-secondary setting requires actors with knowledge, commitment, and organizing skills combined with some luck and good timing. This presentation traces the experience of a group of second year students in the new Honours Bachelor of Food Studies as they worked to achieve the Organic Campus Designation of the Canada Organic Trade Association. The students were all enrolled in “HOSF2409-Food Movements”. Using a Participatory Action Research methodology, students worked with staff at the CHCA's Inventory Control Centre, as well as faculty, administrators, and other students to increase the amount of certified organic food used in all culinary courses at GBC. Students kept detailed notes, wrote reflections, and collaborated on a final paper. As a result, the GBC Chef School has become the first in Canada to achieve the GOLD Organic Campus Designation. The students have won awards and been asked to present at conferences about their work. Each year HOSF2409 will give students the opportunity to move the needle on sustainability at GBC. Next year's cohort is already making plans for how to take this further. Professor Lori Stahlbrand will present and facilitate a discussion.

Presentation Slides (PDF)

Facilitator: Eva Aboagye

Format: Panel Discussion

Title: Research and Innovation: Learning Beyond the Classroom

Description: Research and Innovation at the college engages industry, faculty, students, and the community at large through participation in educationally and economically meaningful research projects and partnerships. We leverage the expertise in our academic divisions (faculty and students) to build and sustain a strong, interdisciplinary, collaborative research and innovation landscape at the college. Through our research and innovation programs, research acts as a catalyst for bringing together faculty, students and community and industry partners for innovation and learning. We also provide students with the opportunity to get a co-curricular record for the work done on research projects. A panel of research program managers, a faculty member and a student will share experiences working on research projects and the teaching and learning that happens in that environment. We will look at the learning that students bring from the classroom to the research projects and the learning they take back to their classrooms.

The panel will be made up of the following:

• Steffanie Adams – A faculty perspective on her experiences on the research project: “The Silent Community: A case study in Indigenous Cultural and Heritage Preservation using 3D and laser scanning and surveys in the Ottawa Valley
• Ryan Billinger – Program Manager, Product Development Exchange
• Dr. Alexandra Hernandez – IGNITE
• Dr. Rod Missaghian – Program Manager, MITACS
• Student – TBD
• Dr. Eva Aboagye - Facilitator

Presentation Slides (PDF)

Facilitator: Professor Aedan Alderson (He/Him)

Format: Online Zoom link 
(Room available for those on-campus who are joining this session SJC 202. Please be sure to bring headphones as this is a shared space. )

Title: Empowering Affective Integrity: Affective Assessments, Academic Integrity and A.I.

Description: This session reflects on the link between academic integrity and affective integrity in the wake of current concerns around academic dishonesty in the era of A.I. technology. Drawing on principals of Indigenous pedagogy, participants will have the opportunity to consider teaching strategies that have the potential to nurture student investment in opportunities for self-expression/skills development through reorienting them to the links between their classroom work and their lived experiences, relationships, and worldviews. In doing so, this session invites participants to confront some of the popular fears that exist around students no longer investing in producing original writing because of A.I. technology, making space to think through what motivates students to produce writing that can be used for authentic assessments and how this is related to the broader goal of promoting lifelong learning in their chosen fields.

Zoom Recordings

Presentation Slides (PDF)

Facilitator: Rocio Conde (she/her)

Format: Online Zoom link 
(Room available for those on-campus who are joining this session SJC 202. Please be sure to bring headphones as this is a shared space.) 

Title: Gamify your course with Digital Escape Rooms

Description: Designed to engage and challenge participants, digital escape rooms have gained popularity for their ability to foster critical thinking, problem-solving, teamwork, and content mastery in an entertaining and memorable way. In this session, we will embark on a journey that uncovers the potential of digital escape rooms as learning experiences. During the session, you will have the opportunity to participate in a digital escape room, engage in collaborative problem-solving exercises, work in teams to unravel mysteries, decode puzzles, and unlock hidden knowledge. Through this hands-on experience, you will witness the power of gamification and how it can create an exciting and engaging learning environment. Gain practical tips and resources for designing and incorporating digital escape rooms into your teaching practice or training sessions. Learn about simple tools to create your own digital escape room. Note: Participants are recommended to bring their laptops or mobile devices to fully participate in the interactive activities. No prior experience with escape rooms or game design is required.

Zoom Recordings

PResentation Slides (PDF)

Facilitator: Ron Caughlin, MA.Ed

Format: Presentation/Workshop

Title: Social Media as a Learning Tool in the Classroom

Description: With the increase in the use of Social Media by college students, the application of social media as an instructional learning tool in the classroom was explored in a recent research field study with College students. The study explored the factors that influence satisfaction and engagement levels when using social media as an instructional learning tool.  This interactive presentation will review the results and future classroom application to increase engagement and student satisfaction.

Presentation Slides (PDF)

Facilitator: Howard Gerhard

Format: Presentation/Workshop

Title: AI text generation?... Fuhgeddaboudit. The real dangers are the AI paraphrasers

Description: Let me put this another way….The threat to effective teaching from paraphrasing tools     It’s the journey and not the destination that should be the prime concern of the teacher and that’s what’s being destroyed by Automated Paraphrasing Tools (APT’s…..once an app has been accorded an acronym, you know it’s serious). The destination is where the learning has been evaluated but it’s the journey where the teaching takes place.  While our attention has been focused on ChatGPT and other chatbots that generate text, AI Automated Paraphrasing Tools have surreptitiously come around from behind to bite us in the assessments. The questions I find intriguing around paraphrasing apps are crucial to good teaching:  What are they?  Does their use constitute cheating?  Is their use helpful to the student? Why do they use them?  What impact do they have on teaching and teaching strategies?  Should I eliminate writing entirely from my assessments (just kidding, of course)?  Can Chatbot detectors identify APT use?  How do we mitigate their use? 

Presentation Slides (PDF)

Facilitator: Katrina Lagace (she/her)

Format: Presentation/Workshop

Title: Peer Feedback and peerScholar in Today’s College Classroom: Universal Design, Challenges, and Practical Considerations

Description: In this interactive presentation, participants will explore the use of peer feedback in today’s college classroom. We will consider peer feedback as an engagement and scaffolding technique that encourages purposeful and strategic learning within the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework. Participants will also engage with the potential challenges and misconceptions related to the use of peer feedback. PeerScholar, which is available to all instructors at George Brown through Blackboard and Brightspace, will be introduced as a helpful scaffolding tool for peer feedback activities. An overview and demonstration of the tool will be featured. PeerScholar, which is available to all instructors at George Brown through Blackboard and Brightspace, will be introduced as a helpful scaffolding tool for peer feedback activities. An overview and demonstration of the tool will be featured. Special consideration will be given to the potential use of AI chatbots like chatGPT for feedback activities, and the challenges and possibilities that might arise from its use.

Presentation Slides (PDF)

Facilitator: Anh

Format: Presentation/Workshop

Title: Developing my teaching practice over a 2-year period

Description: The purpose of this session will be to share how I developed my teaching practice over a 2-year  period in 2 separate courses - “Career Preparation” and “Hospitality Mathematics.” I will explain  the changes I made, why I made these changes, and the impact of these changes on myself as a  teacher and on the students as learners.

Presentation Slides (PDF)

Facilitator: Dr. Bahar Mousavi Hejazi

Format: Presentation/Workshop

Title: Leading by Action: Developing A Reflective-Practitioner Toolkit for Educators

Description: In this session, I will share the findings of the research that I have completed in 2021 for my PhD in Higher Education at OISE, University of Toronto entitled ‘Implementation of Outcomes- Based Education in an Interdisciplinary Design Course and Curriculum: An Action Research Study’. In my thesis, I have explored the implementation of Outcomes-Based Education (OBE) in art and design education through investigative cycles of action-research in my own teaching practice as well as in curriculum planning in my role as the Academic Coordinator of the Art and Design Foundation Program at George Brown College.  

This case study focuses on the challenges that I, as the action researcher and design educator at the post-secondary level face in the integration of an outcomes-based curriculum model that has been adopted in recent years by the higher education sector in Ontario in order to ensure quality, transparency and compatibility among the credentials. The selection of action research as my strategy of inquiry is my response to the qualitative and critical nature of the challenges that educators are facing in their efforts to integrate learner-centered principles in their teaching practice.  

I believe the action-research nature of my study has supported me to learn and evolve in my teaching practice and program coordination throughout my research journey. My aim is to share my research process to create a dialogue among my colleagues and discuss ways that we as educators and curriculum designers can overcome the challenges of the 21st Century and grow in our practice.  

Session Format  

The session will include a 20-minute presentation followed by a 15-minute discussion in small groups and a 10-minute wrap up. Participants will interact by sharing and discussing their thoughts using SOAR (Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations, Results).  

The following questions are proposed for the interactive section:  

Strengths: What are our achievements in the implementation of learning-centered methods in our course/ program? Opportunities: How can we reframe perceived challenges to be seen as opportunities? Aspirations: What actions should we take as teachers to improve the quality of teaching and learning in our course/ program?  Results: What are the 3-5 key goals that we should consider to achieve the desired future improvements? How can we reach these goals? 

Presentation Slides (PDF)

Facilitator: Wren Alden (they/them)

Format: Presentation/Workshop

Title: Evolving Our Practices to Engage 2SLGBTQ+ Learners

Description: As of 2019, one in six Canadian post-secondary students is LGBQ+ and one in thirty-five is trans or nonbinary. Whether you know it or not, 2SLGBTQ+ students are in your classrooms – are your classrooms inclusive to them? In this workshop, you  will apply the fundamentals of holistic 2SLGBTQ+ inclusion to your work as an educator, from classroom management through the design of  learning activities and assessments. We will identify possible sites of discrimination in our course designs, practice  managing conflicts in online and in-person classrooms, and learn key skills and strategies towards more accessible and equitable educational experiences for 2SLGBTQ+ learners. We will use multiple anti-oppressive lenses, integrating anti-racism and accessibility  considerations with a transformative justice approach. Special attention will be paid to the impacts of technology-enabled and remote pedagogies on active inclusion practices. Participants are encouraged to bring their difficult questions to this collaborative,  nonjudgemental space.

Presentation Slides (PDF)

Facilitator: Przemyslaw (Pshemek) Pawluk(they/them)

Format: Presentation/Workshop

Title: AI: friend or foe?

Description: The advancement in AI, the recent publication of new versions of the ChatGPT and many other related tools caused a lot of uncertainty in education. Many educators are concerned about the impact of those tools on education, especially the integrity of the learning process, plagiarism, etc. In this hands-on session, we encourage participants to turn the foe into a friend by using AI tools in the classroom context. Bring your own assignment and see what ChatGPT can generate for your students, discuss how ChatGPT can be incorporated into creative projects or employ ChatGPT to generate multiple versions of assignments for you. Bring your own device if you want.

Presentation Slides (PDF)