Category: Blog (page 29)

By The New College Dining Hall Team

These past few months, our team has been investigating student and staff perspectives on how the New College Dining Hall might be redesigned to offer an innovative, multi-use community eating space. When this process drew to a close, we then presented our data and analysis to the University of Toronto’s Food Services stakeholders. We brought forth three themes that emerged throughout our research: comfort, community and communication.

By Charis Lam, Design Research Events Lead

As students, we often think of staff as curating the university experience for us—laying out the processes and procedures between us and our degrees. Yet, staff are not just responsible for providing the university experience; they also share it, albeit from a different perspective. Through the Future of SLP (Student Life Professionals) project, my team had the chance to take a peek into this perspective.

By The New College Dining Hall Team

This academic year, our team has been trying to answer this question: how might the New College Dining Hall be redesigned to offer an innovative and multi-use community eating and social space for students and staff? We conducted long-form ethnographic interviews with staff and students, as well as with New College Dining Hall users and students who eat primarily at other dining halls.

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?

By: Charis Lam, Design Research Events Lead

At the Innovation Hub, we believe in designing for student success by listening to their voices. Yet, student success is not a pillar, standing alone. Students move through the university together with, and supported by, staff and faculty. Thus, helping student-facing staff succeed in their roles and feel fulfilled by their careers is important to both staff and students. 

By Rachel Davis, Design Research Team Lead (Trademark Licensing)

Do UofT students feel a sense of pride, and if so, how do they express it? That is the focus of investigation for the 2018-2019 Trademark Licensing project team.  UofT’s Trademark Licensing office is partnering with the Innovation Hub to explore how student narratives regarding institutional pride can lead to positive engagement with University of Toronto brands.

Before we began collecting data, we did some exercises to get our initial thoughts about the problem and solution on paper. Making our assumptions explicit was a crucial step for us, since we fall into the same demographics as the students we planned to research. We wanted to ensure we to mitigate the risk of subconsciously relying on our own experiences to answer this question.

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.

By James Conlin, Crescent Leadership Student

This past fall, I participated in Crescent School’s Grade 11 Leadership course and I had the chance to work with University of Toronto’s Innovation Hub. The course tasked students with applying design thinking processes to solve a problem for a community partner. Of all the potential community partners, the Innovation Hub spoke to me the most, as I am a strong advocate in improving the lives of students. Luckily, I was gifted my first choice, along with three other students.