ED-Venture Day
Fall 2025 – Welcome Back Event for Humber Faculty
Session Schedule
Keynote: Reimagining Learning Through Competency-Based Education (CBE)
This keynote session will explore the potential of Competency-Based Education (CBE) as two innovative faculty members share their journey in designing and implementing CBE programs. This session offers a unique, dual-perspective narrative, that highlights the challenges and opportunities encountered while reimagining learning to better serve adult learners and meet the evolving demands of today’s workforce.
What Is Competency-Based Education?
CBE shifts the focus from traditional time-based learning to a model where students progress by demonstrating mastery of clearly defined skills and knowledge. This approach empowers learners to advance at their own pace, receive personalized support, and engage in authentic, real-world learning experiences that are directly aligned with professional and life skills.
Faculty Journeys: Building Responsive and Authentic Programs
Hear firsthand how two faculty members created CBE programs that:
- Prioritize mastery of employability skills and industry-relevant competencies
- Foster equity and inclusivity by meeting learners where they are
- Redesign assessment and curriculum to reflect authentic, measurable outcomes
- Support adult learners with flexible pathways and recognition of prior learning
Why CBE Matters for Adult Learners and Employability
The keynote will showcase how CBE:
- Bridges the gap between education and workforce needs
- Equips graduates with both technical and transferable skills sought by employers
- Provides a transparent record of achievement that signals competence to employers
Learning Outcomes:
- A clear understanding of what CBE is and the opportunities to create a CBE program
- Practical insights from faculty who have led CBE program development
- Strategies for embedding employability and real-world skills into curriculum
- Inspiration to reimagine learning for a more responsive and authentic educational experience
Session One
Learning Retention by Design: UDL Strategies for Every Learner
Boost learner retention with Universal Design for Learning (UDL). This session offers practical, ready-to-implement strategies for making your courses more accessible and engaging. Discover how UDL can help you proactively address diverse learner needs, reduce barriers, and foster a more inclusive classroom environment that keeps students motivated and on track.
Learning Outcomes:
- Apply at least two UDL principles to redesign a course activity or assessment.
- Identify one new retention strategy to implement in your teaching.
Session Two
Teaching as Inquiry: A Reflective Introduction to the Scholarship of
Teaching
and Learning (SoTL)
Curious about the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) but unsure where to start? This workshop demystifies SoTL by guiding faculty through the process of transforming everyday teaching challenges into meaningful research questions. Learn how to design small-scale studies, collect data, and share your findings to improve student learning and contribute to the academic community.
Learning Outcomes:
- Formulate a SoTL research question relevant to your teaching context.
- Outline a basic plan for conducting a SoTL project.
Session One
Assessments in the Age of AI: Rethinking What Matters
With the rapid evolution of AI tools, the landscape of assessment is changing, and so must our evaluation strategies. This workshop takes a candid look at the realities of AI use in education, debunking the myth of “AI-proof” assessments. Instead, we will focus on adapting and reimagining our assessments to align with the learning outcomes we truly value: critical thinking, creativity, and real-world application. Participants will explore practical strategies for creating meaningful assessments, examine the ethical dimensions of AI use, and leave with concrete ideas for promoting academic integrity in an AI-enhanced classroom.
Learning Outcomes:
- Recognize the limitations of “AI-proof” assessments and articulate why truly AI-proof assessments are not feasible.
- Design or revise an assessment to be more authentic, emphasizing skills and knowledge that matter in real-world contexts.
Session Two
Preparing Students for Lifelong Employability: My Employability Journey and
the Humber Learning Outcomes (HLOs)
In today’s rapidly changing world, equipping students with the skills and mindsets needed for career success is essential to strong learner and graduate outcomes. This session will introduce faculty to the My Employability Journey — Humber Learning Outcomes (HLO) initiative and a comprehensive set of resources to support faculty in integrating employability skills and mindsets into their teaching practice. The HLOs include critical thinking, strategic problem solving, digital fluency and other essential transferable skills necessary to achieve learning outcomes and equip graduates for success in their careers, communities, and lives.
Participants will gain access to practical tools, self-guided e-learning resources, and strategies, which can be immediately applied to help students develop the competencies needed to thrive in the 21st-century workforce.
Learning Outcomes:
- Discuss opportunities to develop student employability skills throughout the learning journey
- Explore self-guided toolkits that support both faculty and learners in cultivating HLO-aligned skills
- Create a personalized action plan to embed HLOs into your course, program or professional roles
Whether you’re new to teaching or looking for a refresher, this workshop covers the essentials of preparing for a new semester. From lesson design and community building to fostering student engagement, you’ll leave with practical tips and resources to hit the ground running. Bring your questions and get ready to start your teaching journey with confidence!
Learning Outcomes:
- Create a checklist of key steps for preparing a course before the first day of class.
- Identify two strategies for building a positive and engaging classroom environment.
To register for sessions, please complete the Fall 2025, ED-Venture Day Registration form
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