Julia Smeed, Author at The Innovation Hub

What Matters to UofT Students? The Innovation Hub’s 4-year journey to understanding this question

Julia smeed smiling at the camera, wearing a striped shirt — Julia Smeed smiling at the camera

Well into our fourth year at the Innovation Hub, we continue our mission to improve campus life through student-centric design. Over the last four years, we have collected an immense amount of data, including over 600 interviews from students and other community members from across campus. Our diverse teams of students have logged over 4,600 hours of data analysis to generate empathy for students and their experiences on campus.

There is tension in our work, and our teams have learned that we must recognize the biases we carry from our respective capacities. The diversity of our teams is a strength and we challenge each other daily to understand how our own perspective is just one perspective, shaped by our own positionality. I feel so privileged to lead these diverse teams of students in this work and I learn alongside of them each day. I also feel honoured that so many students have felt safe to share stories of their experiences with us. Our job is to constantly think about how we honour these stories and ensure that they are shared back to the larger UofT community.

What makes a fulfilling undergraduate experience?

By Margaryta Ignatenko, Innovation Hub Training Team

As a third-year undergraduate student at UTSC I think at the core to a fulfilling undergraduate experience is connecting to a community on campus, applying my disciplinary knowledge to work that is rewarding, and discovering my untapped passions and interests. But what surrounds this core looks different for each of us and evolves as we do throughout our time in university; we need to be able to carve out unique experiences to meet our diverse needs in a flexible environment that adapts and changes with its students.

What does the future undergraduate experience look like? Will UofT be a place that fosters distinct and fulfilling experiences for each student, while creating a deep sense of unity?

What Makes a Classroom Great? Join us and share your thoughts!

By Julia Smeed, Innovation Projects Officer

The Transforming the Instructional Landscape team is pleased to invite students, staff and faculty to participate in our upcoming What Makes a Classroom Great? event. Join us to explore different learning environments, imagine classroom possibilities and play with classroom furniture options. Come and tell us what you think and we’ll have free pizza as our way of thanking you for your participation.

Happening This Week: What Makes a Classroom Great?

By Suzie Kim, Communications Team

Join us this week to shape your future classroom! As part of Academic and Campus Event’s Transforming the Instructional Landscape project, the Innovation Hub is bringing the design process into the U of T community. Join us in the Bahen Atrium and Med-Sci Lobby so we can ask you: what makes a classroom great?

The Innovation Hub is Hiring!

By Julia Smeed, Innovation Hub Project Leader

As the Innovation Hub enters its third year, we are excited to announce that there are some great opportunities for students to join our leadership team! This work can only be done for students, by students, so we welcome applications from students from across all disciplines and study levels at the University.

A Brief Tour of Big Ideas

By Charis Lam, Chemistry PhD Student & Innovation Hub Storytelling Team Member

The Future Readiness team shouts, all over each other, in organized chaos. They stand in front of a timeline that’s been scribbled over with quotes, undergraduate milestones, and names of university programs.

Innovation Hub Insights & Ideas

By Julia Smeed, Innovation Hub Project Lead

The Innovation Hub has engaged in over one hundred honest conversations with U of T students. From these conversations we have gained a number of insights that can help us to design innovative programs, services and resources to better support students. Twenty five ideas were also imagined by the students and staff in the Innovation Hub. We have prepared a comprehensive report of our findings which can be obtained by contacting us.

November Innovation Hours – Calling all Students!

The Innovation Hub is looking to create positive change at U of T in five areas: access for every student, fostering connectedness, future-ready students, integrated learning experiences and whole student development. Join us for the November Innovation Hours and share…

Meet the Innovation Hub Team!

By Julia Smeed, Innovation Hub Project Lead

A year ago I would have never imagined that I’d be taking on the Innovation Hub project. I feel that leading the Innovation Hub is the best job at U of T! I love to see how people from diverse backgrounds and with a wide range of life experiences can come together to create change. To me, the spirit of innovation is really in the collaboration and creativity of talented people coming together and each contributing in a unique way. We are living in an age where technology and ideas are moving faster than we can and it is so hard to keep up with the innovation and disruption that exists all around us. Yet one thing that technology can never replace is that creative spark that happens when like minded people come together with a common purpose.

Innovation & Entrepreneurship – A Place to Start

By Carey Toane, UofT’s Entrepreneurship Librarian & Innovation Hub Ambassador

I hear a lot about innovation in my work. As entrepreneurship librarian at U of T, I work with startups on campus, whether they are taking a course, or enrolled in one of nine campus linked accelerators, or commercializing their graduate research, or working away in stealth mode in their dorms. These students are highly motivated, taking on the “drinking from a firehose” experience of starting a company on top of regular studies and other responsibilities. It’s incredibly inspiring to hear about their ideas and help them find information to support their pitch decks.

Author: Julia Smeed