“New grads are not staying in nursing,” says Robbio, who teaches in the School of Nursing at �첥��Ƶ. “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 �첥��Ƶ 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 �첥��Ƶ Faculty Association Teaching Fellowship and �첥��Ƶ 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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In 2023, a Canadian-wide review of undergraduate nursing programs found that of all 2SLGBTQIA+ topics, gender-affirming care was the least included in the curriculum. Haghiri-Vijehan, assistant professor in the Faculty of Health, was not surprised given her own experience as an educator.

“The literature shows that 2SLGBTQIA+ communities are not feeling safe and health care spaces are not affirming of their needs,” she says. “We need to include this as part of our education.”

As she considered how to incorporate more affirming care practices into her Community Health Nursing course, Haghiri‑Vijeh turned to an asynchronous learning tool called the Sexual Orientation Gender Identity Virtual Simulation (SOGI VS). The open‑access platform offers five‑ to eight‑hour modules featuring common patient scenarios, using interactive simulations to help learners identify appropriate, affirming approaches to care.

Haghiri-Vijeh integrated the tool into her course, but went a step further when she learned about York’s GNL initiative. The opportunity sparked a new idea: what if this simulation could become the foundation of a shared international assignment? It seemed like a powerful way to bring students in two countries into conversation, help them build intercultural competence and test whether a reflective, virtual global partnership could support that growth. Just as importantly, she hoped the project might serve as a practical model for other nursing programs.

To bring the collaboration to life, the GNL team at York connected Haghiri‑Vijeh with Alice Wong, a nursing lecturer at Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU).

The process behind that has now been published in a paper in . Wong is a co-author along with York colleague Karen A. Campbell and York master’s student Camille Alcalde.

In the paper, the team outlines how they shaped the shared assignment. Early on, Haghiri‑Vijeh and Wong came together to learn about each other’s institutions, consult with their universities’ GNL offices, test the simulation tool and work together to design their co‑teaching approach.

They aligned the assignment timelines across their courses while keeping the activities asynchronous to accommodate the 12‑hour time difference. Students were required to complete the SOGI VS modules on their own and write a three‑page reflection connecting the experience to their specific placements or practicums. They also submitted an aesthetic piece of their choosing – a song, image, drawing or other creative representation – to capture how the coursework resonated with them.

From there, the students were paired across the two countries. York and HKBU partners exchanged reflections and offered constructive feedback. Guiding questions encouraged students to explore similarities and differences between their placements, and to reflect on at least one social determinant of health and one UN Sustainable Development Goal. Then students were asked to write a second reflection capturing what they had learned from the dialogue.

As the exchanges unfolded, both faculty and students began to see the impact of the work. Assignments and class discussions showed students learning about approaches to 2SLGBTQIA+ care in another country, but also about the social and institutional contexts shaping those approaches. Faculty gathered informal feedback through conversations and the student assignments, and identified increased awareness around issues such as cis-normativity, power dynamics in health care organizations and the importance of inclusive policies and representation in clinical settings.

When the project concluded, its success prompted Haghiri‑Vijeh to write about it with the hope of inspiring similar efforts across the field. A second paper is already under consideration with another major journal, this time exploring the data more closely to identify implications for nursing education. Three students are also developing autoethnographies based on their participation, and several alumni have presented their work at international conferences.

Haghiri‑Vijeh continues to advance her work through a recent to learn about migrant 2SLGBTQIA+ students’ sense of belonging and well-being.

For Haghiri‑Vijeh, student involvement has been among the most meaningful outcomes.

“Where possible, we engage students in the writing and co‑creation of knowledge,” she says. “Asking them if they would like to be involved builds capacity for them, as well.”

She is eager to continue the initiative, including with partners beyond nursing. Conversations are already underway with U.S.-based colleagues in psychology and social work.

“I'm a big believer that if you're doing anything that might be innovative or helpful for others, you have to share it,” she says. “You have to mobilize your knowledge.”

With files from Suzanne Bowness

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A new online and in-class initiative, , introduces astronomy and space science to students in grades 7 to 10 with a focus on reaching underrepresented communities facing barriers to high-quality STEM education.

Collaborating with York’s Cross Campus Capstone Classroom (C4), including C4 funding and resources, Hyde developed Stellar Scholars while on sabbatical this year to directly address inequalities in science education. According to Hyde, many young learners – especially those from underserved populations – have limited opportunities for high-quality science learning due to scarce resources, outdated materials or minimal engagement with real-world scientific institutions.

This can affect learning outcomes and a young student's ability to envision future STEM pathways. Stellar Scholars provides hands-on astronomy experiences and real scientific data, offering opportunities to learners who might otherwise miss out on advanced STEM education.

“We want to awaken curiosity and support students in discovering the universe’s mysteries, using tools that make astronomy engaging and easy to grasp,” says Hyde.

The Stellar Scholars website fulfills that goal through six modules covering topics including: the phases of the moon; the design and function of AICO’s telescopes; the formation and evolution of galaxies and planets; how space research innovations impact daily life; and Indigenous perspectives on astronomy.

The program also introduces participants to STEM fields, demonstrating how complex problems are solved and how students' own interests can connect to real-world opportunities.

Modules are complemented by a teacher portal that provides program resources. Educators have access to video lectures, worksheets with answer keys, interactive game-based quizzes, printable handouts and simulations. Using the portal, teachers can assign modules for homework or group activities, track progress, foster collaboration and critical thinking and provide certificates of completion. Hands-on activities – such as creating foldable sundials, using telescopes and spaceship exercises – allow learners to explore astronomical concepts in practical, experiential ways. Hyde notes, too, that any individual can access and complete the modules for fun or education – regardless if they are a student or teacher.

�첥��Ƶ undergraduate and graduate students, including C4 participants, as well as volunteers, developed all resources under Hyde's guidance. “By drawing on the expertise of the York community, we can offer learners authentic astronomical knowledge that reflects both practical experience and the latest advances in the field,” says Hyde.

Looking ahead, Hyde wants to build on that by expanding Stellar Scholars’ content offerings. She invites members of the York community to contribute so the program can reach more students, provide additional modules and enhance STEM learning opportunities across diverse classrooms.

“Hopefully this program will grow and expand to be a widely used resource for educators,” she says. “Through these efforts, we strive to create a more inclusive and innovative future in STEM education.”

Those interested in showcasing research, participating in outreach or creating modules should contact Hyde at eahyde@yorku.ca.

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Instructors and professors can upload a course’s syllabus and content to AI Course Assistant, a generative AI (GenAI) tool available within the eClass learning management system. Students can interact with the tool's chatbot to ask questions about assignments, deadlines and even course content. Students receive instant answers, reducing the need for faculty to repeat course information available in the syllabus.

“The goal with AI Assistant is to cut down on some of the stresses faculty typically have in answering students’ common questions and make it easier for students to get the information they need quickly,” says Patrick Thibaudeau, director of IT innovation and academic technologies within UIT.

Thibaudeau and his team built the tool using technology developed for a pilot project by professors Donald Ipperciel of the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies and Pooja Vashisth of the . Instructors can upload course materials in diverse file formats – text and PDF documents, spreadsheets, presentations, images, audio and video. They also can add a Microsoft Word document of typical course questions and accompanying answers that the tool scans for information. Thibaudeau says AI Assistant produces extremely accurate replies, and as instructors continue to add information to it, its results will continue to improve.

One feature of AI Assistant designed particularly to benefit student learning is AI Learning Companion. Functioning as a private tutor and study coach, the tool allows students to generate quizzes of 10 multiple choice questions to assess their knowledge on different course topics. Students can also tailor the difficulty level to match their learning needs.

The tool is designed to progressively challenge students: the more answers they get right, the harder the questions become. Professors can also create customized quizzes for students within AI Learning Companion that include short-answer and essay-style questions.

After completing a quiz, students receive results and qualitative feedback, including suggestions for areas that can be improved.

“The tests can be adapted to wherever students are in their learning journey, so that they can advance their knowledge at their own pace,” says Vidur Kalive, AI architect lead within UIT.

Another AI tool UIT is working on is Instructional Design Ideas, which will help faculty design courses by creating educational materials based on course content such as a syllabus, lecture notes, discussion topics, reading recommendations, learning activities, assignments and tests. Thibaudeau and Kalive have demonstrated a prototype to various instructors from diverse Faculties and are using that feedback to refine the tool. They plan to launch it within eClass in May 2026.

These AI technologies are powered by �첥��Ƶ’s Automated University Response Assistant (YU AURA) platform, which means all uploaded content is confined to York’s computer servers, ensuring privacy.

“They are all being developed ethically and responsibly within the York bubble, which helps faculty members feel at ease about using them,” Kalive says.

Thibaudeau and Kalive are collaborating with Student Services, the Teaching Commons within the Office of the Vice-Provost Teaching & Learning and other York units to raise awareness about available AI tools. UIT offers guidelines and a template that professors and instructors can use to shape the language and format of their syllabi to be compatible with machine-learning techniques. Details on how to add and use AI Assistant and AI Learning Companion are available through an .

As AI technology continues to impact teaching and learning in higher education, Thibaudeau says it’s vital for York to embrace its potential in a way that centres the pedagogical expertise of instructors.

“We have an incredible opportunity to use AI to enhance the way education happens at York,” Thibaudeau says. “It can allow instructors to focus on their core work of teaching while cutting down on some administrative stresses and inefficiencies and support the way students learn.”

With files from Sharon Aschaiek

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On Aug. 30, �첥��Ƶ will introduce a suite of AI-powered tools in eClass designed to enhance both how instructors teach and how students learn. Building on York’s award-winning work with its in-house generative artificial intelligence, YU-AURA, the new features mark a major expansion of AI support within the learning management system. 

The first new tool is a course AI assistant designed to alleviate a common burden for instructors – repeatedly answering questions already addressed in the syllabi. Professors can upload their syllabus and course documents to the assistant, allowing students to access a course-specific chatbot 24/7. Instructors can then enable the assistant to be added to their course. The assistant began as a pilot last year, used by two professors – Donald Ipperciel from Glendon College and Pooja Vashisth from the . While it was launched with no formal publicity, the assistant was available to all instructors, and through word of mouth and discovery the assistant ended up used in more than 20 courses – far surpassing the expected three. 

The second tool, called Instructional Design Ideas, helps instructors build out course content directly within eClass. Drawing from course section descriptions, the plugin tool can generate class notes, quizzes and other learning activities – automatically formatting and embedding them into the course. “Other tools require instructors to copy and paste AI-generated content,” says Patrick Thibaudeau, director of IT Innovation & Academic Technologies at York. “This one actually builds inside eClass. You just click and it creates the content.” While not all faculty may adopt this tool, Thibaudeau emphasizes its value as a “show-and-tell” innovation that may inspire future ideas. “Even if it’s not what someone needs, it can create a spark: ‘If it could do this, I’d use it.’ That’s the kind of momentum we want.” 

The third tool is one Thibaudeau believes may prove the most transformative: an AI learning assistant. Created specifically for students, it functions like a private tutor and study coach. By accessing the module through eClass, the AI tool can generate content with which students can quiz themselves or request help with specific topics. The assistant will provide feedback on incorrect quiz answers and guide learners through difficult concepts. “This is what I hope gets used most,” says Thibaudeau. “It gives students a way to study more effectively, and it’s based entirely on their course’s content – not the internet – so instructors can trust what it’s referencing.” 

Thibaudeau notes that one concern among instructors has been whether AI tools expose their course materials to external training models. “That’s exactly what we’re preventing,” he says. “Students are already uploading course content into public tools like ChatGPT. These new features offer a secure alternative – and a better one.” 

All tools will be available in eClass starting Aug. 30. Thibaudeau’s team is collaborating with the Teaching Commons, Student Services and other University partners to promote the tools and provide guidance on how to integrate them.  

Thibaudeau sees this rollout as the beginning of a broader evolution. “We’re IT folks, not educators. But our job is to listen and build what instructors and students need,” he says. “AI gives us new ways to do that. These tools aren’t just tech – they’re about improving teaching and learning at York.” 

More features are in development. Building from a suggestion by a faculty member, one upcoming enhancement will allow students to review their previous quiz attempts, identify incorrect answers and receive targeted explanations to help them improve. Another, suggested by faculty, may assist with grading short answer or math-based questions – allowing instructors to focus more on engagement and less on administrative tasks. 

It was collaboration that led to the creation of these tools in the first place, notably, with the two professors invoved with the pilot. Ipperciel initiated research into the use of chatbots for enhancing student experiences and contributing to coding the AI Course Assistant. Vashisth contributed to the development of the AI Course Assistant by assigning two students to assist with the integration within eClass.

“The instructional design ideas and learning assistant tools were created not because someone told us to,” says Thibaudeau, “but by listening to instructors, watching how students interact with their courses and imagining how we could make things better.” 

UIT will continue to listen, adapt and improve – not only the new tools, but what comes next. “These aren’t final products,” says Thibaudeau. “They’re starting points. Our hope is that they open conversations, spark ideas and help bring 21st-century learning to life.” 

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The 2024-25 lineup of employee courses, programs and series represents the “critical learning content that we know matters to employees and the organization as we evolve and change,” says Jennifer Sipos, director of organizational learning and people excellence.

The latest offerings continue to emphasize five broad capability areas, with a range of courses and topics within each one. The five areas are: change management; digital collaboration; healthy teams; service excellence; and leadership and talent agility.

Within each category, new titles and enhanced topics focus on emergent skills and future-focused work, including: generative artificial intelligence, power business intelligence, coaching skills, neurodiverse teams, the people side of change, culture change and accountability, balancing workload, career navigation and personal brand, crucial communication for healthy conflict, leadership skills, working with data and more.

This year, most employee programming continues virtually. Many courses are instructor-led, with a range of complementary, self-paced learning, e-learning modules and curated learning paths in LinkedIn Learning. To maximize accessibility, the scheduling of offerings has increased flexibility, with more modes of delivery and a range of program types including new rapid learn (one-hour) sessions.

“With a shifting workforce and new ways of working, many of our colleagues are understandably looking to maximize relevant skills and competencies to both grow personally and to thrive in change,” says Leigh Scott, York’s assistant vice-president human resources.

"In this dynamic and complex environment, it is imperative to have a workforce ready to support York achieving its core mission to be a top-ranked teaching and research university," says Laina Bay-Cheng, vice-president equity, people and culture. This year's suite of employee learning opportunities reflects and respects York’s diverse community of learners while highlighting the critical learning content to help leaders and teams do their best work, achieve shared results and grow individual talent.

Some highlights from 2024-25 offerings:

• Skill and competency development offerings include talent-focused (soft skills) and technology-focused (digital skills) courses designed to empower employees to build new and emergent skills, transfer and sustain the learning, and manage career goals and plans.
• Within the technology-focused series options is the Digital Workplace Series: Foundations and Digital Workplace Series: Leveling Up series, within which employees can choose courses to build and enhance their skills, as well as fulfill series requirements.
• Leadership and management development courses and forums reflect different levels of leadership learning, as well as programs that are cohort based including: Emerging Leaders U, Leader U, and Executive U. Registration for U Programs will be available January 2025 for start dates in winter/spring.
• Career navigation and talent mobility programming supports employees experiencing career change or seeking career advancement, with courses including Understanding Your Strengths; Effective Resume and Cover Letter Writing​; Enhancing Interview Techniques; and Building Your Personal Brand, Creating a Network.
• Organizational onboarding includes eight new onboarding series for distinct roles and needs, with updated naming conventions to provide greater clarity for the learning experience. These courses are available for new and continuing York employees, and feature a combination of required and recommended courses.
• Customized services for unit leaders, people managers, teams: opportunities are available year-round to people managers, unit leaders and teams on a by-request basis and include: change management consultation and learning; facilitated dialogue in challenge and change; organizational effectiveness consultation; team skills development; leadership coaching and performance consultation. Those interested are encouraged to use the form.
• Customized services for individual employees are also available year-round on a by-request basis. Employees can submit their requests via the form for: career consultations; career coaching; skills development consultations and plans; resume and interview support; or instructional design consultation.

Full details and/or registration are available now via . For additional information, visit

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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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WeBWorK allows them to practise solving challenging problems as often as they’d like and provides instantaneous feedback.  

“In mathematics, you need to practise, and with this system, you can keep trying until you get it right,” said Andrew McEachern, an assistant professor and course director for linear algebra. “For retention, research shows that engaging with problems multiple times is best. We want students engaged and practising, and this system allows for low, no-stakes practice. There is no cost for failure.” 

Online homework platforms aren’t new, but many of them are costly for students since they are owned by textbook publishing companies.  

“Textbook companies have proprietary rights to their platforms and many of them have a lot of bells and whistles that we don’t need,” McEachern said. “This bare-bones system works and does 90 per cent of the job that expert systems do.” 

WeBWorK is open source and very customizable. This means it can be downloaded for free, although there are significant costs associated with the server and staff resources. The Faculty of Science is covering these costs to provide the software free of charge to students. 

McEachern and other instructors approached the Faculty about installing WeBWorK and joined forces with Hovig Kouyoumdjian, associate dean of curriculum and pedagogy, and Violeta Gotcheva, director of information technology (IT) for the Faculty, to explore the idea. Gotcheva, along with Steven Chen, a systems administrator, and Kalpita Wagh, an IT learning technology support specialist in the Faculty of Science, met with instructors and IT support teams from other Canadian universities to discuss their experiences with WeBWorK. They also joined the worldwide WeBWorK user group to expand their understanding of its applicability and support requirements.  

Although faculty members assumed the IT staff could easily upload the software and run it, Gotcheva explained to them that supporting the platform was more complicated. 

“It's essential to ensure any software we run has appropriate security, robustness, reliability and scalability,” she said. “This is accomplished by obtaining a server hosting service aligned with the software requirements and hiring skilled staff for system maintenance and user support. After determining this, we realized we needed to install the open-source WeBWorK platform relying on community support.” 

Gotcheva, in collaboration with Kouyoumdjian, McEachern, and Michael Haslam and Stephen Watson – current and former Chairs of the Department of Mathematics & Statistics, respectively – created a business case for running the platform. They outlined the financial requirements for hosting and maintaining it and the cost savings that would accrue to students compared to the need for a proprietary platform. The Faculty of Science IT team partnered with Pamela Mills, assistant manager of University Information Technology System Management Services, and her team to use the University enterprise virtual server hosting. The WeBWorK pilot received a grant from the Faculty of Science Academic Equipment Fund to cover the server hosting costs, and the Faculty of Science IT team proceeded with the installation. 

Now, the pilot is underway in all the linear algebra sections during the winter term. 

"Testing the platform across all sections of the course was a bold move, as initially, we anticipated it being piloted only in Andrew's section,” said Koyoumdjian. “We eagerly look forward to hearing about the experiences from both the faculty and the students." 

So far, said McEachern, instructors haven’t discovered any insurmountable problems with the platform, and the more than 700 students studying linear algebra this term seem satisfied. He has paired the homework platform with an online help forum on social media platform Discord to provide students with a means for asking questions and getting answers quickly. 

“It’s amazing how many times other students pitch in with answers before I even get to the question,” McEachern said. “They just do it out of the goodness of their hearts.” 

He also said his students are reporting much less anxiety about their homework than usual. 

After the term is over, he, the other instructors and the team will review the success of the pilot, examining usage statistics and trends. They are also considering an informal survey of participants. 

“It’s easy to use and it’s cost-effective during tough economic times,” said McEachern. “In my opinion, if even one student benefits, it’s worth it.” 

Kouyoumdjian also sees it as a tool for student retention.  

“Mathematics is a foundational subject, and by enriching our students' practice opportunities, we set them up for success and better equip them for future career endeavours” he said. “This pilot is a stepping stone, and we plan to extend the use of this platform to other math courses. We’ve also received positive feedback from colleagues outside our Faculty, who expressed enthusiasm for implementing WeBWorK at �첥��Ƶ, which indicates a growing interest in adopting such powerful open-source platforms in their own courses as well.”  

In addition, noted Gotcheva, the United Nations considers OERs a public good, which aligns well with the �첥��Ƶ Academic Plan’s commitment to furthering the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. 

“The Faculty of Science is committed to OERs,” said Kouyoumdjian. “Our aim is to promote the use of resources that are economically more feasible for our students and flexible enough to be reused, revised, remixed and redistributed. WeBWork aligns with these standards of OERs." 

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Department of Dance students in Professor Bridget Cauthery’s Big Dance Small Space course are now familiar with the cueca, thanks to a workshop they attended along with students from SUNY Buffalo State in New York this past summer. GNL is an approach to teaching and learning that enables people from different locations worldwide to participate in and collaborate on knowledge-making processes and concrete research projects. It provides cross-cultural opportunities for students who might not have the opportunity to study abroad, a benefit in today’s global economy.

“The GNL exercise grew out of a connection I made with Joy Guarino, a dance professor at SUNY Buffalo State,” said Cauthery. “We both taught similar courses for non-majors that focused on the globalization of dance and the recognition of cultural dance practices within our own diasporic families and communities.”

Guarino was a proponent of GNL, and the pair discussed bringing their students together online. They had a few brainstorming meetings and decided to offer their students a workshop in cueca, since Cauthery had a teaching assistant from Chile, Sebastián Oreamuno, who was versed in in the dance.

The course was developed during the pandemic and has been taught online, so the workshop this past year brought the York students together in the studio on campus for the first time, along with Oreamuno, a PhD candidate in dance. The students from SUNY gathered in the Student Union on the Buffalo campus and participated via Zoom.

“There was a bit of a learning curve,” said Oreamuno, who simplified the steps for the workshop. “The dance is performed in 6/8 time, which isn’t a musical signature that’s prevalent in western dance.”

First, he had them listen to the rhythm of the dance and asked them to clap it. Next came the steps, done to a pulse rhythm. He worked with the students on a 30-second sequence of seven steps based on the rhythm. At the end of the 45-minute session, everyone performed it together.

“It was fun,” said Oreamuno. “The students in the York studio definitely enjoyed it; I felt the energy coming from them. The professor in Buffalo sent me a message saying her students enjoyed it, too.”

Cauthery said, “Folk dances lend themselves well to community engagement and connection, and this was a good first attempt, given our reliance on the technology. Next time Joy and I run our courses, we hope to make this a cross-border experiential learning opportunity. We could also have a reciprocal exchange between our programs.”

She is also further considering integrating the collaboration with Guarino and SUNY Buffalo State into something more long-term and with a larger scale; for example, collaborating together on choreography and sharing dance knowledge.

The GNL project also reflected one of York’s dance program’s larger goals: to globalize its offerings by teaching beyond the western canon.

“We want to focus on making connections through dance and dances that represent some aspect of heritage and identity,” Cauthery said. “By sharing that, we can build a bridge of understanding and respect, and create an equitable ecosystem of dance. These may be bold goals, but dance can be a way to bring people and ideas together.”

The GNL team will be hosting an information session for York faculty members on Monday, Feb. 26 from 10 to 11:30 a.m. .

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Using an Academic Innovation Fund grant, in 2023, Robbio created a pilot mentoring initiative for fourth-year nursing students based on her own observations, research and knowledge of the profession – notably her doctoral work focused on e-mentoring for new nurses. She realized that the post-pandemic educational environment offered an excellent opportunity to use e-mentoring in a proactive way by providing support from experienced nurses for those entering the field. 

“New graduate nurses face difficulties in their transition to professional practice and many report being bullied in the workplace,” said Robbio. “This challenging transition to professional practice was compounded for nursing students during the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in limited academic supports and clinical placements, alongside nursing staff burnout – leading to some nurses leaving the profession. 

“Socialization through psychosocial support and mentoring are critical to facilitating entry to practice. However, traditional in-person mentoring may encounter barriers such as unsupportive work environments, lack of mentor access, heavy workloads, and location and distance constraints.” 

The pilot launched with the assistance of a team of colleagues that included co-principal investigator Mavoy Bertram; Teaching Commons educational developer Lisa Endersby, statistician Hugh McCague from the Institute for Social Research; Helen Brennagh from Learning Technology Services; Stephanie Quail, acting director of the Open Scholarship Department at �첥��Ƶ Libraries; and research assistant Doina Nugent. 

After receiving ethics approval for the pilot project in January 2023, Robbio recruited both mentors and mentees through the nursing program at York. Ten practising nurses doing graduate work at York volunteered to serve as e-mentors and 10 fourth-year students in the collaborative nursing program expressed an interest in e-mentorship. The e-mentors posted their profiles online and the e-mentees indicated their top three choices, allowing Robbio to match them. 

Before the program started, the mentees completed a questionnaire to identify their sources of stress, and they noted academic, work and financial stresses as the most pressing. Both groups also completed a self-reflective questionnaire about their current mental well-being. Mentors were generally more satisfied than their mentee counterparts. 

Robbio and her team fashioned the three-month pilot around six online modules that participants could review and discuss, addressing topics such as goal setting, conflict management and career advice. The real focus of the program was check-ins every two weeks between e-mentors and e-mentees. The e-mentors were able to provide psychosocial support and opportunities for professional networking and career support.  

“Nursing is often viewed as a sink or swim culture when you begin working, so this program showed e-mentees how to prepare for their careers and encouraged them not to bottle up their frustrations and anxieties,” Robbio said.  

The project has been an unqualified success, with 75 per cent of the mentees saying afterward that they would stay in touch with their mentors. Meanwhile, 80 per cent of mentors found the program helpful to them as e-mentors and 100 per cent would either participate in the program again or recommend it to a friend. 

The e-mentees were grateful for the support along the way. “I have found that in the few conversations that I have had with my mentor, she has been able to encourage me with ideas and advice about my career path,” wrote one e-mentee. “We've been able to connect on our passion for public health and I've been able to focus on the journey that I would like to take in my career as a health-care professional.”  

E-mentors found satisfaction in assisting future colleagues, too.  “It was fulfilling to share my knowledge and provide career and resumé advice to the next generation of nurses,” one wrote. “Witnessing my mentee benefit from my experience made me proud to be part of such an impactful program."   

“At such a volatile time in health care, it is rewarding knowing that you are providing support and guidance to the next generation of nurses,” wrote another mentor. “It is an experience that benefits the experienced nurse, not just the student.” 

Some consistent themes emerged from the project, based on the post-program satisfaction survey. Participants viewed e-mentoring as a reciprocal relationship and as a commitment that takes time and engagement. The program offered a support system and provided support beyond career mentoring, occasionally venturing into the personal realm. E-mentees highlighted such benefits as “having a person with more experience guide you through new challenges” and seeing “a more practical experience of what nursing is like outside of school.” 

E-mentors mentioned their new role as “a reminder of the benefit and importance of supporting new nurses entering the profession” and indicated the value of “being able to learn about how I would like to mentor versus how others would like to be mentored.” 

Their study findings were presented last year at the Teaching in Focus Conference at �첥��Ƶ, at the 8th World Congress on Nursing & Health Care in London, U.K., and at the University of New Mexico Mentoring Institute Conference in Albuquerque, N.M., where their conference paper was published in The Chronicle of Mentoring & Coaching, the institute’s premier bimonthly online academic journal publication. 

Given the success of the pilot, Robbio is optimistic about its place in the nursing curriculum. She and her research colleagues are eager to share study findings with the School of Nursing leadership team to see if this program might be a good fit for existing leadership courses or as a stand-alone. 

“The program is very transferable to any area of study, but it is especially valuable in nursing because it’s not easy out there for new graduate nurses,” Robbio said. 

Thanks to this pilot project, mentees now know what to expect as they enter the workforce in 2024. 

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