Meet the Team 2021-22 Innovation Hub Team!

Betelehem outside smiling at the camera
Betelehem Gulilat, Content Writer

As we enter a brand-new term, the Innovation Hub is excited to welcome our Fall/Winter 2021-22 Team! Each year our team is expanding along with our growing number of partnerships and are pleased to continue designing with and for students at the University of Toronto. In support of our expansion, we are grateful to be transitioning to a new workspace on campus where we plan to follow a hybrid work model to provide flexibility & space for innovation.  

Community Repost: Introducing the Tech2U Initiative

Tech2U is an exciting new pilot program that employs over 125 students to provide instructors with personalized tech support as they make their long-awaited return to teaching on campus. This week’s post is a repost from U of T News, where Tech2U was featured in a recent article written by Staff Reporter at U of T News, Rahul Kalvapalle.

All about the TIL Operations Working Group

Georgia is outside, smiling towards the camera and wearing. a dark blue shirt.

Written by Georgia Maxwell – Senior Research Assistant for Transforming the Instructional Landscape

Transforming the Instructional Landscape (TIL) is an ongoing project at the University of Toronto that examines how learning environments can be improved for both instructors and students. TIL employs design thinking to help build better learning environments with students rather than for students. A wide range of professionals from across UofT are also involved in the project’s exciting and innovative work. 

What We Learned from the ‘Let’s Talk About Failure’ Project

Amal smiling to the camera, wearing a black and light pink outfit.
Rosemarie smiling at the camera against a light green background.
Sanskriti is smiling towards the camera, they are outside with trees and scenery in the background

Written by Sanskriti Maheshwari, Rosemarie Shephard, and Amal Yusuf, Data Analysis Researchers for the Let’s Talk About Failure project

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The Innovation Hub partnered with the Division of Student Life Academic Resilience Initiative to learn about UofT students’ experiences with failure: how they define failure, how they endure it, and the impact it has on their lives. We explored existing data on the topic in our archive of over 600 interviews and reached out to students at UofT to take part in our dialogue-based feedback sessions. We approached this project with the intention of hearing from and listening to students’ stories surrounding failure in their own words and on their own terms.  

Share your experiences with classroom accommodations – Student Feedback Sessions

Tell us about navigating classroom accommodations! The Innovation Hub and Accessibility Services (St. George) want to know about your experiences navigating accommodation from instructors. Tell us about what happened, what works and what doesn’t, how it’s hard, and more. We want to hear from…

Delving into the Digital Campus: The Many Faces of Vulnerability

By Ayaan Hagar, Design Researcher & Project Team Lead  

Ayaan Hagar

This blog post is part of Delving into the Digital Campus, a four-part series in collaboration with the Digital Community & Connectedness Project, aimed at understanding how students find and make connections in digital spaces. Each post is a written reflection from our Design Researchers, sharing how the insights from their project has resonated with them in their own lived experiences. 


What does it mean to connect in an age where we’re constantly connected? 

It’s a question that’s been on my mind since the start of the pandemic; with a parent working on the frontlines, I heard accounts of the virus’ impact that didn’t give me much hope for returning to campus anytime soon. I had always had a bit of hard time finding my place on campus until I switched my program last year and became a part of a tight-knit, cohort of students. It wasn’t until the pandemic hit that I realized how much of that connection was forged over months of FaceTime, group trips to Kensington Market, shared triumphs and troubles over coffee, and daily lunches in the student lounge. With my younger brother entering university in the fall, I wondered what his experience and so many other new students would look like. 

Transforming the Instructional Landscape: What We’ve Learned About Transcripts

Marcus is outside, wearing a dark blue suit and smiling towards the camera
Georgia is outside, smiling towards the camera and wearing. a dark blue shirt.

Written by Georgia Maxwell (Senior Research Assistant) and Marcus Lomboy (Design Research Assistant for Transforming the Instructional Landscape)

For the past four years, the Innovation Hub has teamed up with the Learning Space Management (LSM) Team to examine how learning environments can be improved for both instructors and students.  

Delving into the Digital Campus: Birds of A Feather, Do Flock Together

Sanskriti smiling to the camera outside

By Sanskriti Maheshwari, Design Researcher

This blog post is part of Delving into the Digital Campus, a four-part series in collaboration with the Digital Community & Connectedness Project, aimed at understanding how students find and make connections in digital spaces. Each post is a written reflection from our Design Researchers, sharing how the insights from their project has resonated with them in their own lived experiences. 


Ever been told that opposites attract?

Through taking a course on Interpersonal Relationships, I uncovered something quite eye-opening. ‘Opposites attract’ is just a fantastical expression used to keep us invested in the romantic relationships and friendships that play out in front of our TV and movie screens. In reality, I have found that birds of a feather do in fact flock together. For example, in my own life I have observed that most of my closest friends have identical hobbies, personalities, political views, and so on. When meeting new individuals, any differences in interest or personalities can seem more pronounced than they really are. Possibly because a foundation built on a shared purpose hasn’t been established just yet.  This is also something I learnt from my experience conducting the Stories from a Distance Sessions and The Digital Community & Connectedness Project.  

The Academic Integrity Project: Designing Student-Centered Academic Integrity at U of T

Hai Dao smiling to the camera on a sunny day
Hai-Dao Le Nguyen
Shankeri outside, with a plain grey background, smiling to the camera
Shankeri Vijayakumar

By Shankeri Vijayakumar – Data Analysis Researcher and Hai-Dao Le Nguyen – Data Analysis Researcher 

Academic Integrity is essential to learning at the University of Toronto as students learn to engage with knowledge and ideas in a way that is respectful and honourable. This past year, the Innovation Hub partnered with U of T’s Provost’s Office to explore what academic integrity means and how it is experienced by students at the university.  

An Exciting Opportunity to Learn Design Thinking and be Involved with the Innovation Hub!

We are thrilled to be launching our Design Thinking Experience Program this summer! Running weekly on Tuesdays from 2:00-4:00PM between June 1st until August 3rd, this is a 10-week boot-camp style program that will provide you with: 

  • An introduction to innovation and Design Thinking 
  • Experience conducting qualitative research 
  • Teamwork skills and connections on campus 
  • An opportunity to generate ideas to improve the student experience at U of T