CI Newsletter: Nov 4-8, 2024 | Curriculum Integration | Seneca Polytechnic

Hello everyone! Check out some exciting resources, developments, and events below.

Curriculum Integration Project: Fall 2024 Human Skills cohort

Fall 2024 Human Skills Cohort

The Fall 2024 Curriculum Integration Human Skills' cohort is currently working through both the Needs Analysis for their program and beginning work on a Roadmap to take them through the next two years of the integration project. 

The faculty champions had a great in-person session last week, with two fabulous guest panelists, Akeisha Lari and Tanya Andrews. Akeisha and Tanya led faculty through a session on the role of empathy in helping students to foster their Human Skill development. Using empathy as a foundation, the champions looked at ways to support the facilitation and scaffolding of group work in their courses and curriculum.

Curriculum Integration: Strategy Spotlight

Every CI Newsletter issue will feature a “Strategy Spotlight”, where we share a curriculum integration strategy or idea that you can adapt to your classroom. Each strategy comes with a learning objective and supporting activities, assessments and resources. The example is subject specific but can be adapted to any subject area.

In this edition, three marketing professors at Seneca asked students to develop a sustainable marketing strategy for a new product. 

Curriculum Integration and Marketing 

• Summary: Students brainstorm campaign ideas that promote social responsibility using a BOGO approach, “Buy One, Give One”, a sustainability twist to the traditional "Buy One, Get One".
• Sample Learning Objective: Today we will develop promotional campaigns for sustainable marketing strategies.
• Related Activity: Students discuss BOGO (“Buy One, Give One”) product campaigns. Students come up with ideas for BOGO products.
• Related Assessment: Students create videos where they market products using the BOGO approach. Students explain the sustainability of the product and map the product to the SDGs.
• Related SDGs: SDG12: Responsible Consumption and Production
• Resource: Inside the Buy-One-Give-One Model (2014) 

Looking for more sustainability integration examples from different subject areas? Explore our Curriculum Integration Teaching Sustainability Module and scroll down to "Examples of Sustainability in the Classroom".

Tell us what’s in your CI backpack! Do you have an integration idea to share with the Seneca community? Submit your idea here: Curriculum Integration Idea form.

Classroom Connection: Treaties Recognition Week

When we think about our connection to the land, it is important to remember that we are all treaty people. This year, Treaties Recognition Week takes place from November 3-9, in Ontario. The purpose of this annual event is to honour the importance of treaties, and to further understanding and knowledge of treaty rights and relationships. This is part of reconciliation, and is a great opportunity for faculty, staff and students alike to learn more about the role treaties play in all of our lives and relationships. 

Visit the Ontario Treaties Recognition Week website for more information, including a list of events taking place in the Greater Toronto Area. 

^{Caption: "Indigenous History of the Land" by Philip Cote}

Event Calendar: Diwali

Across the world, Hindus celebrated Diwali from October 31st to November 1st. Diwali is also known as Deepawali or Festival of Lights. 

Within the Hindu lunar calendar, Diwali falls on the 15th day of Kartik, the month with the darkest night of the year. The celebrations last five days; each one-day affair is a festival of light with corresponding rituals.

• Day 1: Dhanteras
• Day 2: Naraka Chaturdashi (Choti Diwali)
• Day 3: Diwali (Main Festival)
• Day 4: Govardhan Puja
• Day 5: Bhai Dooj

Whether you celebrate Diwali or seek out additional information about monthly or yearly cultural celebrations, you can always find resources to support you.  For information about various events and celebrations for diversity and inclusion, explore: 

Event Recap: Fall 2024 Teaching & Learning Day

For the fall Study Week, the Teaching & Learning Centre hosted the Fall 2024 Teaching & Learning Day with the theme “Human Skills in the Age of AI”. 

We welcomed keynote speaker Maria Vamvalis, a doctoral candidate at OISE, University of Toronto, who delivered a talk titled “Critical Thinking in the Age of AI”. This was an incredibly interactive talk that gave insight into the importance of critical thinking in quality learning, and student engagement in all delivery modes. This is especially timely as the need for critical thinking is increasing as more educators wish to utilize AI in education. 

The keynote was followed by a faculty panel, “Humanizing Human Skills Integration  ̶  Stories from the Road”, which gave the panelists an opportunity to speak on their own experiences integrating Human Skills into their teaching practice. 

The day ended with two session blocks on how to use AI in higher education. Seneca’s AI Thought Leaders, Kent Peel and Panos Panagiotakopoulos, presented a variety of popular AI resources that can aid faculty in everyday tasks. In the second session, staff from the Libraries, Sandbox, and Learning Centre presented the services and resources available to students to improve their information literacy and academic integrity when using generative AI. 

We also celebrated three faculty who received Teaching and Learning Awards in recognition of their outstanding work and commitment. 

• Seneca Award for Teaching Excellence: Alireza Faed from the School of Marketing
• Seneca Award for Teaching Excellence in Flexible Delivery: Justin Boudreau from the School of Community Services
• Seneca Award for Transformative Educator: Jeevan Pant from the School of Computer Programming and Analysis 

References

Cote, P. (2024) Indigenous History of the Land [Painting]. Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, ON, Canada.