Lending an Ear for Empathy

Lisa smiling against a grey wall.

Listening can seem like a passive action, but there’s so much more to hearing someone’s story. Lisa explores how empathetic listening has the power to transform tough situations into safe spaces that foster creativity.

Written by Lisa Yuwen Hu, Design Research Team Lead, Honours Bachelor of Science, Psychology Research Specialist 

Call for New Innovation Hub Projects 2023-24

Call for New Projects - Partner with the Innovation Hub

Partner with the Innovation Hub!

The Innovation Hub is ready to take on new design thinking projects for the 2023-2024 academic year. We can help your team to co-create programs, services, resources, and spaces with students. Working together, we help you build positivity around your project and ensure the highest possible student engagement in the process. Our student teams are hired and trained specifically for your project and work directly with you and your teams throughout the process.

Gamification at the Innovation Hub

Video game controller, tv, and and desktop computer

Written and Illustrations by Paul Kaita, Senior Project Assistant, Master of Education, Higher Education 

Games bring people together and can change the world. Paul reflects on his classroom experience and how gamifying Innovation Hub workshops evokes positive emotions and creates memorable learning moments. 


Reflections on the Return to In-Person Work

Written by Delphine Ji (Design Research Team Lead), Austin Go, Ting Bai, Izzy Friesen, and Hong Shu (Design Researchers)

Over the course of the summer, one team at the Innovation Hub has been dedicated to ensuring that returning to work in person is a positive experience. The team hosts team-building activities during our Friday workshop meetings and has been gathering feedback from team members. To grow and improve the Innovation Hub, a key focus is identifying aspects that are working well, and what to improve. With this term, the Innovation Hub has moved back into in-person work, and a few team members took a moment to reflect on their experiences. 

Tech2U – Humanizing Classroom Technical Support

Written by Sanskriti Maheshwari, Senior Research Assistant, Transforming the Instructional Landscape 

Sanksriti is wearing a blue shirt, standing outside

The Tech2U program launched in the fall of 2021 with the goal of humanizing classroom technical support to foster innovative teaching and learning in an increasingly technological classroom landscape. The initiative was launched as part of Transforming the Instructional Landscape (TIL). Tech2U is a partnership between Learning Space Management and the Innovation Hub. 

What’s Your Why: A Commitment for Change

Betelehem outside smiling at the camera

This blog post is the first installment of What’s Your Why, a new blog series aimed at highlighting the importance of connecting back to the “why” that drives you and the work you are involved in. Each post is a written reflection from our team members, who took the time to graciously share their passions and purposes that drove them to their particular work at the Innovation Hub. We hope these stories inspire you to take a moment to reflect on your own individual “why”.  

We’re Hiring Great Leaders at the Innovation Hub!

Are you interested in communication, collaboration, leadership, and project management? Are you wishing to create change and improve the campus student experience at U of T? The Innovation Hub is hiring Team Leads to support the growth and development of many campus initiatives and you can play an integral role in them! We are seeking innovative, insightful, determined leaders to join our wonderful team!

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.