“New grads are not staying in nursing,” says Robbio, who teaches in the School of Nursing at żě˛ĄĘÓƵ. “It’s a lot of sacrifices they’re making, a lot of money they are spending, to not stay in nursing.”

High turnover and ongoing staffing pressures affect not only individual nurses but also the broader health care system, Robbio says. Her work focuses on addressing burnout and retention challenges that emerge early in nurses’ careers.

Many new graduates face a difficult shift as they enter professional practice where support can be limited and workplace pressures high. These challenges were further intensified during the COVID‑19 pandemic, which disrupted clinical placements and contributed to work fatigue among practising nurses.

That transition period prompted Robbio to focus on mentorship and social connection as ways to help students build confidence, resilience and a sense of belonging as they move into the workforce. However, through her doctoral work in 2018 – titled "E-Mentoring as a Socialization Strategy for New Graduate Nurse Role Transitions and Workplace Adjustment" – Robbio confirmed that traditional in‑person mentoring models can be difficult to sustain due to competing priorities, scheduling conflicts and heavy workloads.

In 2023, supported by a York Academic Innovation Fund grant, Robbio expanded her research by launching a pilot e‑mentoring initiative to explore a more flexible approach. The project examined whether virtual mentoring could offer an accessible, cost‑effective way to overcome common barriers to mentorship. It did so through an interdisciplinary research team consisting of co-principal investigator Mavoy Bertram, an associate professor from the School of Nursing; former Teaching Commons educational developer Lisa Endersby; statistician Hugh McCague from the Institute for Social Research; Helen Brennagh from Learning Technology Services; Stephanie Quail, director of the Open Scholarship Department at żě˛ĄĘÓƵ Libraries; and research assistant Doina Nugent.

The initiative explored how an e‑mentoring model within York's School of Nursing could provide psychosocial guidance, networking opportunities and career support for fourth‑year undergraduate collaborative BScN students.

Following positive responses from both mentors and mentees, Robbio received support through a żě˛ĄĘÓƵ Faculty Association Teaching Fellowship and żě˛ĄĘÓƵ Minor Research Grant to integrate the system directly into the curriculum of an undergraduate nursing leadership course she teaches.

The three‑month program – built on the 2023 research work and started in January 2025 – paired third‑year undergraduates (e‑mentees) with graduate nursing students who are also experienced registered nurses (e‑mentors). The mentors came from within the York community.

“We already have nurses at York who are working on their graduate degrees,” says Robbio. “We have a pool of people who want to give back to the profession while continuing their education.”

Mentors created detailed profiles that included clinical experience, years in practice and personal interests to help foster strong matches. Students were then able to indicate preferred mentors, with efforts made to accommodate those choices where possible.

Once matched, mentors and mentees connected by email, text or Zoom every two weeks. They discussed topics such as goal setting, conflict management, career pathways and work-life balance, supported by a series of online learning modules. Robbio emphasizes the tone of the relationship was central to the initiative’s success.

“It was not so much about preaching to your mentee, but really listening,” she says. “It felt more like a peer‑support relationship.”

At the end of the program, e‑mentees completed a reflective learning assignment to assess their development and experiences. Mentors and mentees were also invited to complete a post‑program satisfaction survey.

The findings were positive. A large majority (86 per cent) of e‑mentors said they would participate again, citing the experience as rewarding and meaningful. Many e‑mentees reported they valued the additional guidance and planned to stay in contact with their mentors. While designed to support undergraduate nursing students, mentors also gained from the experience.

“E‑mentoring was really a reciprocal relationship,” Robbio says, noting that mentors had opportunities to reflect on their own practice, strengthen leadership skills and reconnect with their professional purpose.

Ultimately, the initiative aims to support long‑term retention in the profession. By helping students build resilience, navigate challenges and develop coping strategies early in their careers, Robbio hopes it will make a lasting impact.

“Our goal is that whatever skills they’ve learned – whether it’s resilience, conflict resolution or managing work-life balance – this program will help them stay in nursing,” she says.

Robbio and her team plan to continue work on the initiative. In the fall, she hopes to expand the program to support internationally educated nurses, who may face additional pressures as they transition to working in Canada. She is also exploring ways to involve alumni as e-mentors and believes the model could eventually be adapted for use in other programs and disciplines.

With files from Ruth Robbio

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The Distinguished Research Professor title is awarded to a faculty member whose research has had a significant and lasting impact, both at żě˛ĄĘÓƵ and beyond. It is a recognition of scholarly excellence and leadership that has shaped fields of study and contributed meaningfully to the academic reputation of the University.

The University Professor honour is reserved for those who have demonstrated exceptional commitment to teaching and research, alongside exemplary service to the University community. Recipients are recognized for their broad and sustained influence across all areas of academic life.

This year’s recipients are:

Distinguished Research Professor

Shayna Rosenbaum, Faculty of Health

Rosenbaum, a York Research Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience of Memory and professor in the Department of Psychology, has been recognized for innovative contributions to the science of memory and its clinical applications.

With over 120 peer-reviewed publications and more than 10,700 citations, Rosenbaum is internationally renowned for her research, which has reshaped understanding of the hippocampus in the brain and its role in memory, decision-making and spatial navigation.

Rosenbaum has advanced health science by leading interdisciplinary teams to develop artificial intelligence-driven tools for navigation training in university and long-term care settings, and has collaborated with public health agencies to enhance decision-making and learning among frontline workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Distinguished Research Professorship is the latest in a series of accomplishments of awards for Rosenbaum, including the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research, the żě˛ĄĘÓƵ Research Award and a recent appointment as a York Research Chair.

Rosenbaum sees the latest honour not as an individual one, but a collective one shared with her academic collaborators at York. "I am deeply moved to receive this honour, which recognizes collaborative research with brilliant colleagues and trainees in the Department of Psychology and Centre for Integrative and Applied Neuroscience (CIAN), Centre for AI and Society (CAIS) and Centre for Vision Research (CVR),” says Rosenbaum. “I look forward to continuing our transdisciplinary research on memory and aging, which has been enriched by the VISTA and Connected Minds CFREF programs.”

University Professorship

Paula Wilson, Faculty of Science

Wilson, a long-serving faculty member in the Department of Biology, has been recognized for her significant contributions to żě˛ĄĘÓƵ’s academic mission, governance and community life.

Since joining York in 1998, she has held a range of senior administrative roles, including associate dean of student affairs, acting dean of the Faculty of Science, acting associate vice-president international, interim Chair of biology and, most recently, head of Bethune College.

She played a central role in developing undergraduate programs such as the biomedical science stream and the international bachelor of science, both of which have broadened access to science education. As a member of the Markham Campus Planning Group, she also supported the development of new professional graduate programs.

As head of Bethune College, she revitalized its role as an academic and social hub, launched new communications platforms, strengthened ties with the and reimagined Academic Orientation Day to build student belonging.

A passionate educator and mentor, Wilson is a staunch advocate for removing barriers to learning. Her current scholarship, supported by a York Academic Innovation Fund grant, focuses on improving accessibility in undergraduate labs. Her pedagogical expertise and deep commitment to student success have had a lasting impact on the student experience at York.

While Wilson has received other teaching awards – including the Faculty of Science Excellence in Teaching Award and the President’s University-Wide Teaching Award – the University Professorship, she says, stands out.

"Receiving the University Professor recognition is the highest honour I could receive from York, so it means a lot to me and I’m deeply grateful for it. It has special meaning for me too, as a member of the teaching stream, as this honour rarely goes to teaching stream faculty," says Wilson. "I’m especially thankful for my colleagues who prepared the nomination and support letters, as these things take a substantial amount of time and energy – I feel like I am sharing this honour with them.

"Having the privilege to work with so many outstanding colleagues, students and staff members at York has made it both fun and a pleasure to come to work each day and to be honest, anything I have accomplished has been in collaboration with and because of them."

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In the Department of Chemistry, Tihana Mirkovic, an assistant professor, and Hovig Kouyoumdjian, an associate professor who is also the associate dean of curriculum and pedagogy, are developing modules using e-learning tool Adobe Captivate to improve students’ learning experiences. Meanwhile, biology professors Tamara Kelly and Paula Wilson and their colleagues – project manager Jessi Nelson, accessibility expert Ainsley Latour and educational development specialist Ashley Nahornick – are identifying and supporting improvements that make labs more accessible.

Kouyoumdjian first identified the potential of Adobe Captivate as a tool for the generation of an interactive learning environment in chemistry classes. Together with Mirkovic, the pair recognized that the laboratory experience through pre-laboratory activities in undergraduate classes could be substantially improved by leveraging the multimedia learning process that could be incorporated into modules generated in Adobe Captivate.

“Our goal is to allow students to integrate their conceptual and procedural understanding of their labs through active learning opportunities. We hope that the newly developed modules, featuring slides, videos, hotspots, 360-degree navigation, software simulations and knowledge check assessments, will provide a learning environment that motivates our students and maximizes their learning potential,” Mirkovic said.

"We aim for students to stay engaged, even when the material is presented virtually," said Kouyoumdjian. "Now, we possess an e-learning tool with an interactive component that complements the static elements of the course. It is applicable for both blended and online courses."

The pair also collaborated with an instructional designer to craft customizable templates to help with the process of repurposing and reusing the modules across various courses.”

The professors have has initiated a pilot in the courses CHEM 2020 (Introductory Organic Chemistry I) and CHEM 3001 (Experimental Chemistry II) this term. “We hope to gather valuable information from the initial student experience and feedback collected from Adobe Captivate activities and linked self-reflection surveys,” Mirkovic said. During the summer, they will reflect on the pilot’s successes and explore the reusability of the created templates.

They are optimistic that the new software will contribute to student engagement, leading to increased student motivation and greater retention.

Meanwhile, the accessibility team is moving forward with its own initiative to improve – in a different way – the accessibility of biology, chemistry and physics labs for students in the Faculty.

“Paula and I have directed labs, and something we come up against regularly is accommodation,” said Kelly, the project lead and the Pedagogical Innovation Chair, Science Education. “Student Accessibility Services typically addresses lectures, but has limited expertise to support providing clear accommodations for labs.”

Added Wilson: “Students with accessibility issues have the burden of negotiating with their professors for every lab, and it’s exhausting. Also, even if professors are eager to assist, they aren’t experts in accommodation.

“In addition, by the time faculty members get a letter about accommodating a student, it may be the second or third week of the term, which leaves no time for finding and arranging creative solutions.”

The group plans to survey Faculty of Science students and faculty to learn more about needs and accommodations that work. Latour and Nelson developed a checklist of barriers to accessibility in labs and then, with Nahornick, toured first-year science laboratories with the technicians who run the labs. They looked for barriers and what was missing to make accommodation easier.

“There were a lot of things that were quick fixes, so Ashley emailed the lab managers to suggest changes to make before the start of the term,” said Kelly. “These included the readability of signage, repairs to broken automatic doors, among other things.”

The team also brought in Pamela Millett, an audiologist from the Faculty of Education, to determine what the sound issues might be for those with hearing concerns.

“There is a lot of ambient sound in labs, from fans and other equipment, that make it hard for students to hear instructions,” said Nahornick. “Repairing or using their microphones is an easy fix.”

The next step will be to create professional development support for instructors, technicians and teaching assistants, so they understand how to best support accessibility in labs.

Wilson said they would also like to prepare a series of recommendations for the Faculty. “Some issues may require infrastructure changes that will require additional funding. We want to take away the pressure on instructors to handle this on their own by making changes where we can and sharing best practices,” she explained. “Our aim is to make it easier for all students to have valuable lab experiences that meet course outcomes.”

Kelly added, “If we have a clear understanding in advance about what is needed, that’s a big step. Some things must be personalized, but there are some general things we can implement for our students. Students with disabilities are often driven away from science in high school because of barriers, and we don’t want to be part of that cycle. We want to enable people.

"For a lot of students, their first experience in a lab turns them onto science. We’ll lose talent if they don’t feel as if they can function in this setting."

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Established with the help of a three-year grant from York’s Academic Innovation Fund, the GSSHub will be rooted in principles of dignity, mutuality and effective supervisory practices. It will aim to enhance the graduate supervision process with effective practices, capacity building, a centralized platform for support and guidance, and a toolkit of resources to help foster a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement in supervision methods.

"Graduate education stands as a cornerstone in the academic landscape and the quality of the graduate supervisory experience plays a pivotal role in shaping the academic and professional trajectories of students," said Tracy Bhoola, program manager of the GSSHub. "The dynamics of this relationship profoundly impact the quality of research, the development of professional skills and the overall academic experience."

The approach of this new hub, explained Bhoola, acknowledges that good supervision is not innate, nor solely about overseeing research projects, but is a relationship that requires mentorship, guidance, ethics, mutual respect, collaborative goal setting and skill development.

At the core of the envisioned GSSHub is the promotion of supervisory relationships enveloped in mutuality. "Acknowledging the diverse needs and expectations of supervisors and students, we want to keep relationships at the centre, with an ethos of dignity folded into every aspect and an explicit regard for the inherent value of both the supervisor and the student," said Cheryl van Daalen-Smith, FGS associate dean, academic. "By fostering a culture of trust and collaboration, the GSSHub will aim to enhance the overall graduate supervisory experience for everyone involved."

To ensure the pan-university GSSHub aligns with the diverse needs of the academic community, FGS is extending a call to ­­graduate students and faculty members­ to actively engage in the development process by providing input and guidance.

"By participating in consultations and sharing invaluable experiences and insights," said Wesley Moir, FGS associate director of graduate academic affairs, "the community can help shape the development, initiatives and effectiveness of the proposed GSSHub, which will empower supervisors and students to thrive in their academic pursuits, making it a true reflection of the collective vision for effective supervision support."

In Winter 2024, FGS will share a survey for graduate supervisors, seeking input on the supports and services that the GSSHub should provide. For now, the Faculty is gathering names of those who want to be involved and planning one-on-one consultations. To contribute, contact Bhoola, GSSHub program manager, at tbhoola@yorku.ca.

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With support from żě˛ĄĘÓƵ’s Academic Innovation Fund, Professors Carolyn Steele and Lynda van Dreumel have created Envision YU, a curriculum complete with and a pressbook in both and , to aid faculty in guiding students into university life and through it to the career world, building useful skills throughout.  

Van Dreumel, an assistant professor and undergraduate program director for the Faculty of Health, was exploring ways to assist students in building necessary skills for success while transitioning to university when she met Steele, an assistant professor in the Department of Humanities in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies. Steele was working on a project to assist students with their transition from university to the working world by building on classroom knowledge, skills and experience. The two teaching-stream faculty members decided to join forces to equitably support the student transition continuum from the time they enter the University to the time they graduate to the next stage in their lives – whether that meant the workforce or more schooling. 

“We felt that this same continuum could happen in a single course, not only across courses," Steele said. "An instructor could begin with preliminary reflection skills early in the course and advance to more complex applications of reflection later in the course to enable students to identify career interests emerging out of the course content.”

Along with a team of instructors, students and subject matter experts, the pair created the Envision YU curriculum with “tools and resources that professors can embed directly into courses and customize to fulfill learning objectives using course content, so students engage naturally and can build skills,” van Dreumel said.  

Steele noted that when this is done iteratively, the students become more fluent with these skills and transition to the next stage of their lives with more agency and confidence.  

The Envision YU resources and supporting materials include interactive activities (H5P-based lessons), videos, infographics, tip sheets and worksheets. Instructors can use the resources as-is, or they can tailor the resources based on their specific course requirements. Many of them have been student- and instructor-tested.   

The Envision YU curriculum assists in building four capacities that are crucial to student success: reflection, self-regulation, teamwork and transfer. Faculty also have the option of incorporating resources developed for various stages of learning into their courses. The Envision YU curriculum has resources tailored toward different stages of skill development: comprehending, developing, applying and advancing. 

Steele says these Envision YU capacities are ubiquitous, needed by all students, no matter their academic focus. For instance, she said, “The ability to transfer knowledge, skills and experience from one context to another is critical in today’s dynamic world, but many instructors’ expertise is focused only on academic contexts, and they are uncomfortable including material that stretches beyond their disciplines.  

“Our toolkit helps instructors, so they aren’t expected to be experts in everything, yet can provide opportunities for students to master transition skills in their courses.”  

There’s a big cognitive load for professors when they get into the more nuanced aspects of teaching, especially in terms of classroom-based experiential education. Many instructors don’t know the theory of reflective writings and are, thus, ill-equipped to teach their students how to reflect critically. With the resources in Envision YU, they can use one or more of the several reflective assignments to guide their students to reflect critically on the syllabus, assignment feedback, course-based experiences, their skills, values, and the relevance of course topics and readings in their students’ lives. 

“Envision YU is about the impact you can have on your students – not only in class, but down the road. We want to provide instructors with the flexibility and self-confidence to integrate these skills in courses across the curriculum,” said Steele. 

Envision YU is an open access resource and is available through eCampus Ontario. Steele and van Dreumel are available to answer faculty questions and assist in customizing the tools. 

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Raiman Dilag, director of information technology services (ITS) at żě˛ĄĘÓƵ’s Glendon College, and his team are working to ensure their students have access to the most current technology to enhance their storytelling capabilities.

They will make this possible through an Academic Innovation Fund grant that allowed them to create a new eight-week extracurricular course – XR Storytelling in Extended Reality / XR Accroche Narrative en Réalité Étendue – that will provide interested Glendon students and faculty, with an introduction to virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), 360-degree cameras, podcasting and 3D printing. The course is not for credit, but those who complete it will earn a microcredential and a digital badge that can be affixed to their resumes and LinkedIn profiles.

“While it’s expected for STEM students to be exposed to technological tools, at Glendon, we are deeply rooted in the liberal arts tradition,” Dilag said. “I saw the opportunity to complement resources currently in place, and enhance our students’ access to these and other new tools. Our students have stories to tell, and they benefit from sharing them using new media.”

For those on the outside looking in, the idea of using these tools can be confusing and/or daunting. VR and its sleek headsets can immerse users in another space, such as the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris before and after the fire. Fans of Pokémon Go know that AR allows users to employ a device to interact digitally with the real world, bringing images to life. 360-degree photography brings the viewer into the space, letting them experience that moment from all of the photographer’s points of view. Podcasts stream on digital devices and are excellent audio/video tools for storytelling, while 3D printing enables the creation, and customization, of 3D objects crafted in one’s imagination or modified from previous designs.

Each of these technologies, independently or in combination, are valuable for storytelling in a digital era.

The eight-week course created by the ITS team will familiarize students with these key tools and require them to work on a group project to show their facility with one or more of them. The project will also reinforce teamwork skills, and in true Glendon nature, is conducted in English or French by the bilingual XR technology co-ordinator.

“I’d like students to think about the stories they want to tell,” said Dilag. “These are just tools; however, a course like this can open doors, because opportunities following graduation may be influenced by things beyond academics, such as exposure to any or all of these XR technologies.

“We’re all about the student experience, recruitment and retention. If this course helps them graduate more career-ready, it’s a great way for us to add value to their university, and post-graduation, experience.”

The in-person course is open to all Glendon students and will be offered during both the Fall and Winter terms. Dilag hopes the success of the course will lead to expansion for all York students.

The team has been planning the course since February: designing the curriculum, writing the proposal, purchasing necessary equipment and making the space attractive. The course will be conducted by the XR technology co-ordinator with oversight from Dilag.

“Let’s get technology in the hands of this dynamic generation and see what they can do,” Dilag said. “I think they’ll impress us.”

He is proud of his team’s work and reminds the larger community that the ITS department “is about more than resetting passwords," he said. "We aim to humanize technology, and to use it to enable the telling of great stories.”

XR Storytelling in Extended Reality / XR Accroche Narrative en Réalité Étendue begins the week of Oct. 16. Glendon students can register .

Faculty who may be interested in the course can contact xrglendon@glendon.yorku.ca to discuss their needs and learning objectives.

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Students enrolled this fall in Dreaming of Electric Sheep: Emerging Practices in Communication, a course led by Glendon faculty member Roberta Buiani, will document and care for the installation as part of their curriculum.

The art project, titled Mycosymbiosis and designed by Chinese-Canadian artist , is a time-based and site-specific installation located on the balcony adjacent to Glendon Manor's ballroom. It will launch on Oct. 2 at 5 p.m., with a viewing event and reception to follow.

"The installation consists of a mobile gallery (Emergent) containing a variety of mushrooms which grow, decay and renew, weaving their intricate forms through its interstitial space and responding to the surrounding natural environment," explains Buiani.

is a mobile gallery featuring artworks at the intersection of science and the arts. The goal is to understand and address how life evolves and adapts due to climate change, global mobility, experiments and the shaping of the world. The mobile gallery itself is a porous object, and is designed to explore the role of exhibition spaces.

Yan's installation combines the complex concept of identity with a perspective on nature that transcends conventional boundaries. Including three types of oyster mushrooms planted along the exterior walls of the mobile gallery, the living art project will showcase how these mushrooms grow through a time-lapse projection inside. This evolving living sculpture will change with varying temperature and humidity, inviting a range of symbiotic organisms that interact with the mushrooms.

This installation of Mycosymbiosis represents the second phase of a long-term collaboration between Yan and the team behind Emergent: Buiani (Glendon/University of Toronto), Lorella di Cintio (Toronto Metropolitan University) and Ilze Briede [kavi] (żě˛ĄĘÓƵ, PhD student), with scientific advising from James Scott (University of Toronto).

Buiani's course, which is a recipient of an Academic Innovation Fund grant, presents an examination of emerging trends in communication and media technologies, delving into web-based advancements and exploring novel modes of interpersonal and mobile communication.

Specifically, interacting with and documenting this installation is an important opportunity for students to not only achieve a better and more nuanced understanding of the complexities involved in interspecies communication in relation to our technological networks, but also to develop a better appreciation for responsible consumption and production, collaborative and collective work, communication with different forms of knowledge and ultimately, care, says Buiani.

The installation will be on view throughout the fall semester, and the Oct. 2 launch will kick off a series of public engagements on networks, care and land-based community building and artistic practice. More information will be available at .

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The honoured paper reflects the professors’ ongoing efforts to develop innovative teaching methods, which are inspired by visual arts and practices such as games, music and comic art.

“Engineering language creates learning barriers,” says Zhuang. “We want to increase understanding of materials in more efficient ways – through approachable, accessible and inclusive methods. Art-inspired pedagogy combines rationale with creativity for a more engaged student-learning experience.”

Zhuang and Jadidi’s work especially stresses the use of comics to teach humanistic skills such as ethical leadership to engineering students, as they are crucial for professional success. However, students often find these skills difficult to grasp due to their focus on technical concepts.

Summarized in their awarded paper, Zhuang and Jadidi are developing and piloting a pedagogy called Visual Verbal Integrated (VIVID) Storytelling, which aims to address the challenges associated with teaching humanistic skills to engineering students.

The method combines aspects of VIVID thinking, which integrates visual and verbal elements to improve communication and drive ideation, as well as storytelling aspects of comic art, to help increase student engagement. The method also incorporates elements of sketchnoting, such as the use of simple visuals, to reduce the level of expertise needed to apply VIVID Storytelling in academic settings. By combining these elements, Zhuang and Jadidi established a user-friendly and engaging teaching method that promotes creativity and associative thinking to help students understand complex or unfamiliar ideas.

To test the effectiveness of VIVID Storytelling, the method was used in different student workshops to teach skills ranging from self-directed learning to computational thinking. Not only was the method capable of teaching various skills and topics in an engaging manner, but it also provided students with reference material for future study.

In addition, VIVID Storytelling can be used to make complex concepts more accessible for students who face various barriers in academic settings, thereby supporting decolonization, equity, diversity and inclusion efforts. For example, the method offers an alternative to academic language that may be daunting for students. VIVID Storytelling also helps create an inclusive learning environment for students of different educational and linguistic backgrounds.

Jadidi and Zhuang are also conducting a project through żě˛ĄĘÓƵ’s Academic Innovation Fund titled "Developing PAN-Lassonde Inclusive, Immersive, Accessible, and Affordable Learning Environments for Engineering Education using Augmented/Virtual Reality, Gamification, & Educational Comics." Involving more than a dozen professors across Lassonde, the project aims to address challenges in engineering education and improve learning experiences with a library of teaching methods inspired by visual arts and practices.

“The Academic Innovation Fund is a stepping stone,” says Jadidi. “If we can continue to get more grants, we can involve more faculty members and start implementing these methods in our courses. Together, we can create a safe, accessible and inclusive teaching culture.”

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Zamora, an associate professor of Hispanic studies at Glendon College, first used digital technology in a Hispanic Geopoetics course in 2018. The class was studying the work of Luis Cernuda, a poet from Seville, Spain, and he led them on a field trip to explore the spatial memory of a place recreated in his poetry throughout a life of exile. Afterward, he had students collaborate on a web-based multimedia project about the poet and about their field experience.

“I liked how these projects made students collaborate and engage with the community,” Zamora said. “They learned to create, analyze, synthesize and collaborate. I loved the pedagogic power of digital humanities courses.” 

He now incorporates digital projects into all his courses that have field components, such as the summer courses he teaches at the University's Las Nubes Campus in Costa Rica. Some of the courses have established projects to which students contribute, while in others, the class conceptualizes and creates a project from scratch. He is open to students who propose digital projects in his other courses, too, such as blogs or videos as assignments. 

“Literature is often text-based, so students limit their experience to textual analysis and discursive thinking,” Zamora said. “These projects make the students think visually, so they help me enhance their learning experience. The course immediately becomes experiential, because the students realize that they can put what they have learned to work in practical ways and that they can mobilize knowledge.” 

He has also turned to globally networked learning to bring together students from Glendon with their counterparts in Colombia, about Gabriel GarcĂ­a Márquez’ novel One Hundred Years of Solitude. 

“This was the first time we had a component as part of the [Hispanic Geopoetics] course and it was fantastic,” Zamora said. 

Jadidi, an associate professor of civil engineering at the Lassonde School of Engineering, uses gaming and virtual reality tools to assist her students in learning engineering and surveying principles. Previously, she created an that builds on an augmented reality physical sandbox (AR Sandbox) devised by faculty at the University of California, Davis. It allows students to mimic climate conditions online, such as floods, to see their impact on roads and bridges, for example.   

“The XR Sandbox is an inclusive, diverse learning environment that helps students to retain information,” she said.  

Recently, Jadidi and 11 colleagues received an Academic Innovation Fund (AIF) grant to develop gaming and XR tools that will assist students in learning complex engineering concepts. To do so, they will employ XR and gaming technologies, as well as Visual Verbal Integrated (VIVID) storytelling technology.  

“We have observed that engineering students become more disengaged from their learning, particularly when learning contents that are complex, theory heavy, nuanced and unfamiliar,” said Jadidi. “Technology is advancing very quickly and students are comfortable using it, so we want to give them tools to see different dimensions of engineering problems and enjoy learning in a different way.” 

For example, one of the tools will allow the students to virtually fly drones over a 3D model of the żě˛ĄĘÓƵ campus so they can understand a drone’s movement and rotation. They’ll be learning about drone assembly, system co-ordination, testing and flight, all within a virtual space.  

“It’s all about providing students more opportunities for learning,” said Jadidi. “They’ll be able to learn independently, too; they won’t be limited by time.” 

Adebayo’s first opportunity to teach a course occurred in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a PhD student at Cambridge, teaching wasn’t required, so he was forced to acclimate simultaneously to teaching and the virtual environment. 

“I was plunged into the deep end,” said Adebayo, an assistant professor and historian of anglophone West Africa.  

Luckily, having grown up with technology, Adebayo quickly found his feet.  

At York, he started off teaching HIST 2750 (African History from 1800 to the Present) in a HyFlex classroom that is designed to provide remote learners with the same classroom experience as those present in person, and is also recorded for reviewing. It required some tinkering with technology to provide an equivalent experience.  

For example, Adebayo is learning to use a tool that allows him to embed quizzes into lectures so that anyone watching virtually can’t continue unless they participate; the video simply stops.  

An AIF grant has allowed him to purchase a professional camera and a green screen so he can improve the video quality of lectures, no matter the platform a student is using to view it. He has also learned to add closed captioning that is synchronized with the lecture. 

“I believe in access, so the easier it is for my students, the better,” Adebayo said. “I want lectures for students to be mobile-friendly so students can participate on their computers or mobile devices.” 

Since the course will be delivered remotely this year, Adebayo has also sought out a means to prevent students from using chat bots to do their assignments. 

“I assign short presentations to the students, that they record and send to me; then we meet and discuss the substance of the presentation,” he said. “Even if they’re employing AI tools, they still need to know the content.”  

The pandemic opened many eyes to the possibilities of technology in the classroom and, as illustrated, the students benefit. 

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An Academic Innovation Fund (AIF) project at żě˛ĄĘÓƵ aims to broaden the understanding of academic integrity and the student experience.

“Academic misconduct is a complex and multifaceted issue that involves consequences such as compromised learning, reduced student success and reputational damage to an institution,” says Angela Clark, academic integrity specialist in the Office of the Vice-Provost Academic. Exploring the approaches used to educate students about academic integrity at żě˛ĄĘÓƵ is a key part of Clark’s project.

The AIF project, "Understanding Academic Integrity Instruction at York: A First Step to Developing Meaningful Interventions for Students," will explore the current interventions in place so students can be supported in their understanding of academic honesty at York. It will lead to developing future interventions that are aligned to students’ circumstances and realities and are geared towards supporting their success. 

“There are many reasons why academic misconduct occurs. Although it is normally linked to a student’s lack of morals, it more commonly arises from both a lack of academic skills and a lack of awareness around academic integrity,” Clark explains. At York, Faculties offer different types of interventions, which can include modules, websites, activities and assessments, among others. Clark would like to learn what instruction is taking place, how it occurs, how students interpret it and how it is scaffolded. To that end, this project aims to collect all these interventions into an inventory and evaluate them, starting with co-curricular interventions and moving to curricular interventions in the fall. The next phase will take place in Winter 2024, in which focus groups with students will take place. 

“In education, most interventions that institutions offer are general in nature, but this doesn’t benefit students who are more at risk of engaging in academic misconduct,” Clark notes. “There is research on international students who are non-native English speakers that shows they tend to engage in breaches more often than domestic students. But there is a lack of research on equity-deserving groups such as racialized students, Indigenous students and those with disabilities, and the struggles they may face with academic integrity standards.

"The research does indicate that the development of competence in academic integrity is affected by a student’s starting point: their academic level, their language, their educational level and other contextual factors.” 

Clark is especially interested in these focus groups to understand students’ perspectives and experiences on current academic integrity interventions. “I would like to learn how students are encountering these interventions and where the gaps lie. It’s important to meet students where they are in order to effectively instruct them on this topic.  

“The new interventions, paired with the student voice in focus groups, will help us learn about our students and incorporate their diverse experiences and ideas about what can be offered in academic integrity education to best support them.” 

Clark adds, “It’s particularly important to understand student behaviour now more than ever. During the pandemic and the corresponding move to remote learning, the use of homework help and content-sharing sites like Chegg and Course Hero flourished across higher education institutions. Now we have generative AI (artificial intelligence) technology, prompting more concern about academic integrity.”  

Not only is there a concern around how students potentially use these tools to complete their work, but detecting their unauthorized use has been problematic, as no detection tool to date has been proven to be reliable. 

Choosing whether to leverage AI in classrooms is also based on each individual instructor’s judgment, as outlined in York’s Academic Standards, Curriculum and Pedagogy Committee statement. If instructors do allow the use of AI in course assessments or assignments, it is requested that they clearly communicate the parameters for how students utilize it, including being transparent about its use and providing citations. It is also recommended that they engage students in discussions about the ethical use of the technology and common concerns about inaccurate information, false references, privacy, confidentiality and copyright. 

The topic of academic integrity is timely, with Academic Integrity Month coming up in October at the University. The event encompasses the theme of “Connecting the Community,” as it will bring together students, faculty and staff for a series of discussions on innovative academic integrity approaches and ways instructors have revised their assessments. 

“Generative AI seems to be a popular topic in scheduled discussions, which presents a good opportunity for the York community to learn from each other,” Clark says. 

While sessions are aimed at instructors, there is also an opportunity for students to get involved. “Last year, we hosted an online scavenger hunt for students. Students were tasked with finding the answers to questions from various student service areas on their websites and then sending in their answers for chances to win prizes. This year, we’re hosting an in-person scavenger hunt, encouraging students to visit student support services such as Student Community & Leadership Development, the library, the Writing Centre and the English as a Second Language Open Learning Centre, among others, where they can connect with people in person, collect printed material and feel more comfortable accessing these services on campus,” Clark explains.  

The Academic Integrity Month website can be found here. “It’s not too late to get involved,” Clark adds. “If anyone in the York community has any academic integrity research, practices or ideas that they think would benefit the York community, they can reach out to me.”  

For further information on support and events related to academic integrity, visit the Academic Integrity website. For information about generative AI in particular, visit the AI Technology and Academic Support for Instructors web page, which includes contextual information on AI technology, tips for addressing AI technology with students, managing grey areas and ethical concerns, using AI technology as a teaching and learning tool, and detecting AI content, along with upcoming workshops in October and beyond. 

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