Delving into the Digital Campus – Exploring the Importance of Digital Communities to UofT Students
By Ayaan Hagar – Project Team Lead, Kethmi Egodage – Community, Social Connection & Support for Students Team Member, and Betelehem Gulilat – Lead Editor & Writer
Our new reality has accelerated change in all areas of our lives, from work to socializing, we’re staying connected to our communities through the most hyper-connected platform called the internet. What elements of digital connections and communities help students feel like they’re connected with one another? With this question in mind, we’d like to introduce the Digital Community & Connectedness Project. Building on our previous work, this project is exploring how the student experience of finding and engaging in community continues to shift during this time, and what implications this has for those who build and facilitate connections within the online UofT community.
Stories Through Research Spotlight: Impact of COVID-19 on the Mental Health and Vulnerability of Sexual and Gender Minorities (SGM) Living in Toronto
This guest blog post is part of our Stories Through Research Series: Learning from UofT Researchers on How Students are Impacted by COVID-19. Each post in this series highlights three UofT research projects helping us understand student experiences and challenges in these unprecedented times. Each spotlight includes a blog post and scheduled zoom session for individuals from all areas of the University to come together as we listen, learn, and share important elements that must be engaged through conversation. Learn more at uoft.me/storiesthroughresearch.

Centering SGM voices for inclusive models of care.
Project Team: Jessica Fields (UofT), James Gibb (UofT), Sarah Williams (UofT), Ali Greery (UofT), Leela McKinnon (UofT)
To get in touch with and meet the team, come to our live zoom session next week, August 27th.
Stories Through Research Spotlight: Our Languages, Our Lives and the Global Pandemic
This guest blog post is part of our Stories Through Research Series: Learning from UofT Researchers on How Students are Impacted by COVID-19. Each post in this series highlights three UofT research projects helping us understand student experiences and challenges in these unprecedented times. Each spotlight includes a blog post and scheduled zoom session for individuals from all areas of the University to come together as we listen, learn, and share important elements that must be engaged through conversation. Learn more at uoft.me/storiesthroughresearch.

Thinking deeply about how language in students’ lives has shifted during a pandemic.
Project Team: Dr. Maya Abtahian (University of Rochester’s Department of Linguistics) and Dr. Naomi Nagy (University of Toronto’s Department of Linguistics)
To get in touch with and meet the team, come to our live zoom session next week, August 26th.
The Innovation Hub is Hiring for the Fall/Winter 2020-2021 Work Study Term!

This Summer at the Innovation Hub we have been so grateful for continuing our work by students, for students. We have had opportunities to continue to grow ongoing partnerships, while also engaging in new work and ideating projects. In a time where we are uncertain about many things, we want to offer our potential team members the opportunity to both contribute to the university and learn new skills.

We’re looking for dedicated students who are interested in improving campus life by focusing on student needs, who want to work with design thinking inspired methods, or are passionate about engaging with communities and want to support students in a variety of ways. Individuals considering applying to a role must have the ability to work remotely and engage in virtual project work and in collaborative online environment.