Plenary

Choose your own adventure: Reimaging virtual science labs to encourage student autonomy and exploration

Krystal Nunes (she/her) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biology where she works as a discipline-based education researcher. Previously, she was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Toronto Mississauga in science education. Her current research is in the development of evidence-informed classroom interventions and assessments to support undergraduate student resilience through learning from failure.

Shawn McFadden (he/him) is a technical manager and adjunct professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biology. Shawn is an active contributor to lab development at TMU, championing reimagined undergraduate labs to support more authentic learning experiences for students.

Usability study of a Teleoperated Control Laboratory for Remote Experiential Learning

Kourosh Zareinia received a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering (Electronics) from Isfahan University of Technology and a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering (Control Systems) from the University of Tehran. He earned his PhD in Mechanical Engineering (Robotics) from the University of Manitoba, Canada, in 2012. Kourosh Zareinia is currently an Associate Professor in Mechanical Engineering (Mechatronics) in the Department of Mechanical, Industrial, and Mechatronics Engineering at Toronto Metropolitan University. His work includes the design and development of advanced surgical robotic systems for brain surgery, design and development of neurosurgery-specific haptic devices, and force-sensing surgical tools. His research interests include haptics, surgical robotics, smart surgical tools, hydraulic manipulators, haptic hand controllers, Lyapanov stability, and virtual fixtures. 

Supporting Success in Physics Using Problem-Solving Prompts and Retrieval Practice

Dr. Carina Rebello is an Assistant Professor in Physics at Toronto Metropolitan University. Her research is on discipline-based education research with an emphasis on physics education research. Dr. Rebello’s research interests includes problem-solving, integrated STEM education, evidence-based reasoning & scientific argumentation, scientific inquiry & engineering design, curriculum and assessment development, and pedagogy professional development, and educational technologies. She employs an interdisciplinary approach to the study of teaching and learning. Her research draws on research in other fields, such as the learning sciences, psychology, cognitive science, and the use of technology in science learning. Dr. Rebello’s work aims to improve the effectiveness of student learning, problem solving skills development, effective learning spaces, and experiences that benefit a diversity of students.

Do Online Collaborative Learning Tools Facilitate Social Loafing for Group Projects?

Eugene Chan is Associate Professor of Marketing at the Ted Rogers School of Management, Toronto Metropolitan University. A passionate educator, he brings a global perspective to the classroom, having taught at leading institutions in Canada, the U.S., Australia, and Europe. He holds a PhD in Marketing (University of Toronto), MA in Social Psychology (University of Chicago), and AB in Psychology (University of Michigan), as well as an ARCT (Hons) in Piano Performance. Eugene's teaching is informed by his research on how people make decisions in consumer, organizational, and societal contexts. He uses experimental and survey methods to explore topics such as political ideology and consumer behavior, effective communication strategies in marketing and health, and ways to encourage environmentally responsible choices. His work appears in top journals, including the Journal of Consumer Psychology, Journal of Travel Research, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, and Global Environmental Change.

New Technologies for Learning Beyond The Classroom: Impact on Students' Knowledge Retention and Work-Study Balance

An innovative educator and a passionate researcher, Dr. Dong focuses on experiential education and applied research. She has been awarded numerous teaching awards for her teaching excellence including the most prestigious lifetime teaching achievement award at Toronto Metropolitan University, the Provost’s Award for Experiential Teaching (2018). She is also the recipient of multiple teaching awards, including the Dean’s Teaching Award (2020), Best Poster Award by Toronto Metropolitan LTO (2016), and the TRSM Innovation Teaching Fund (three times from 2017 to 2018). Dr. Dong is devoted to using emerging technologies to engage students not only within but also outside the classroom. Her recent project, funded by a Learning and Teaching Grant, examines the impact of using AI chatbots to improve student learning.

Student Success Through Improved Studio Environments

Dr. Terri Peters is an Associate Professor in the Department of Architectural Science where she teaches in the architecture and building science programs. She is a registered architect in the UK and holds a PhD in architecture from Aarhus Architecture School in Denmark where she researched the design and renovation of high performance housing. She has been a long standing member of the University’s Teaching and Learning Spaces Working Group, completed a two year course of teaching development instruction in 2021 called the University Teaching Development Program (UTDP), and has been the recipient of two TMU Learning and Teaching Grants from CELT. Dr. Peters is the recipient of the 2023 AVP International's Global Learning Award. Her research interests and areas of expertise are health and wellbeing in non-clinical environments, co-benefits of building performance and people performance in sustainable buildings, and biophilic and salutogenic design for long term care environments. In her research, she utilizes architectural design and building science methods to examine how building design impacts people’s experience of spaces, exploring the experiential qualities to understand how architecture can contribute to enhancing people's well-being. Her research into pedagogy aims to uncover ways in which design studio learning spaces, particularly those used in architecture programs, can positively influence student collaboration, productivity, and overall mental health.

Learning Through Storytelling: Insights from Anthropology

Dr. Osborne is a linguistic anthropologist housed in the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures. Key themes of her research focus on multilingualism, codemixing and switching, and more recently, the ways in which language can be leveraged as a political tool. She teaches courses in methods, anthropological theory, linguistics, and linguistic anthropology, among others. As an anthropologist trained in the four fields of the discipline with a focus on language, one of her core philosophies of teaching focuses on the funds of knowledge that students bring to the classroom. This approach takes as a foundational principle that students are not empty vessels waiting to be filled, but that they are fires to be stoked, whose ultimate contribution to a given intellectual space is to share their understanding of the world with others in the mutual construction of truth and knowledge.