What Are Kernels, and Why Are They Important? | The Teaching & Learning Centre

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What Are Kernels, and Why Are They Important?

Also known as: 
“How to Spy on Other Faculty and Get Away with It”

by Laura Page, professor in the Teaching & Learning Centre

Ever since I first began teaching in higher education, one of my favourite things to do has been to walk around campus and surreptitiously glance into or pause to listen to classes in progress.

I love seeing the students’ faces: sometimes smiling at a joke, sometimes nodding, sometimes tired but content. Sometimes they’re relaxed, asking questions or talking to each other, and sometimes they’re focused, puzzling their way through a tough problem or quiz.

Teaching is inherently social. We aren’t ever really alone; it’s us and our students. We talk to them, listen to them, and think about their needs, interests, even dreams for the future. But it can also sometimes feel that you’re on your own on a day-to-day basis. What are other teachers doing? How are they approaching their content? What activities are working for them? I find I’m always wondering about these things, and in my current role at the Teaching & Learning Centre, we love finding new ways to find out.

One of our newest offerings gives faculty a peek into what’s happening in other classrooms: the Curriculum Integration Kernels. For those who aren’t familiar, the Curriculum Integration (CI) project is a Seneca initiative that began in 2023 to find meaningful ways to bring our key priorities into the curriculum: Truth and Reconciliation, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, Sustainability, Human Skills, and, more recently, Artificial Intelligence. Now, in 2026, faculty across Seneca are finding increasingly creative ways to explore these themes. So how are other teachers bringing these themes to life in their classrooms?

This is where the Curriculum Integration Kernels come in. Just like a kernel of popcorn can pop into something new, a CI Kernel can spark an idea for your teaching. Kernels are a collection of fun, practical teaching activities that you can try in your classroom or use as a starting point for an idea of your own.

Take Linda Moroziuk’s Musical Collaborations course, IPS 413. If you walk by her classroom, you might hear students in the middle of a lively debate. They’re certainly learning about music, but they’re also wrestling with a much bigger question: what role does sustainability play in the music industry? As the music industry changes, it faces its own sustainability challenges, and Linda designed this activity to give students a rigorous opportunity to explore them from multiple perspectives. And what better way to get students thinking, questioning, and defending their ideas than a good old-fashioned debate, which also lets them practice good critical thinking skills! You can check out the Kernel and see what the students are up to here.

So, as you continue teaching at Seneca this fall, have fun with new ideas in the classroom. We know faculty are doing wonderful work in their classrooms, so if you have even a kernel of an idea to share with the faculty community, we’d love to hear about it! Email us at teaching@senecapolytechnic.ca to chat about an idea, and one of our team members can help turn it into a Kernel to share with the faculty community.

Thank you to all the faculty doing this work to make our courses as relevant as possible for our students. And remember as you teach, there’s a chance that a member of the Teaching & Learning Centre may be strolling by, maybe nibbling some popcorn, and quietly cheering you on.

_{Photo by Melanie Stander on Unsplash}

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