Part-Time Teachers’ Conference: April 29th, 2023

On April 29th, 2023, Humber’s Innovative Learning department hosted its annual Part-Time Teachers’ Conference at the International Graduate School Campus located in downtown Toronto. The hybrid conference is for part-time faculty in Ontario colleges and has been a part of Humber for over 17 years. 

Stay tuned for 2024!

Keynote Speaker

Saturday, April 29th

Jesse Stommel PhD

Jesse Stommel

Jesse Stommel, Ph.D. is a faculty member in the Writing Program at University of Denver. He is co-founder of Digital Pedagogy Lab and Hybrid Pedagogy: the journal of critical digital pedagogy,and he earned his Ph.D. from University of Colorado Boulder. Stommel is co-author of An Urgency of Teachers: The Work of Critical Digital Pedagogy, co-editor of Disrupting the Digital Humanities and co-editor of Critical Digital Pedagogy: a Collection.

He is best known for his work as a champion of teachers and students in higher education. He is Executive Director of Hybrid Pedagogy: the journal of critical digital pedagogy, and he earned his Ph.D. from University of Colorado Boulder. Stommel is a documentary filmmaker and teaches courses about pedagogy, film, and new media.

He experiments relentlessly with learning interfaces, both digital and analog, and his research focuses on higher education pedagogy, critical digital pedagogy, and assessment. Stommel was most previously a faculty member at University of Wisconsin-Madison. 

Featured Speakers

Joseph Gibbons

Joseph Gibbons

Joseph is a full-time faculty member at Humber College and the University of Guelph-Humber where he holds exemplary faculty status. His passion is researching and educating people about the optimal ways in which they can improve their energy, immunity, and happiness.   

He is licensed through the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology to certify Personal Trainers (CSEP-CPT); and licensed through the Mental Health Commission of Canada to certify groups and individuals in Mental Health First Aid Training. 

Additionally, he holds the designations of Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, Functional Movement Specialist, and Clinical Exercise Physiologist. 

Optimizing Your Health and Happiness - PTTC 2023

Saturday, April 29th

8:00 am Registration

Registration and Refreshments   412 

Sessions Block 1: 8:45 - 9:45am

Fostering Academic Resilience: Thriving in the Classroom Toolkit Practice Session  505  Estefania Toledo 
Creating Authentic Assessments for Learners  511  Cheryl Francis-Nurse 

Cynthia Young 

Hyflex Teaching: Opportunities and Challenges  506  Karyn Olsen 
Supporting Achievement Among All Learners  611  Eleanor Pierre 

Sessions Block 2: 9:55 - 10:55am

Count Us In: Fostering Engagement and Inclusion with Students During Election Coverage 611  Mike Karapita 

Mike Wise 

Enhancing the Learning Journey with SoTL and Applied Research Projects  505  Tania Massa                                                                
Loud and Clear: Towards a Shared Language of the Teaching Profession at Humber 506  Victoria Abboud

Vera Beletzan

One Size Fits None: Using Educational Technology to Support Universal Design for Learning   511  Gian Michele Pileri   

Lunch: 11:00 - 11:50am

Lunch    412 

Keynote Session 12:00-2:00pm

Keynote Presentation: Pedagogies of Care  405  Jesse Stommel  

Sessions Block 3: 2:10 - 3:10pm

Assessing Leaners with Choice in an AI-Powered World  506  Amanda Baker (remote) 
Designing for “Intentionally Equitable Hospitality” in HyFlex Learning Environments  505  Lara McInnis 
Universal Design for Learning as an Efficient and Sustainable Approach to Teaching and Learning  611  Kate Staig 

Mackenzie Ketchell 

Featured Session: 3:20 - 4:20pm

Featured Session: Optimizing Your Health and Happiness   405  Joseph Gibbons  

Conference Close & Raffle 4:20 - 4:30pm

Conference Close 
Raffle  
 405  Dawn Macaulay  

Ranya Khan  

Our Speakers

Innovative Learning at Humber College is proud to highlight some of our speakers for our upcoming conference together.

Victoria Abboud

Special Advisor, Faculty Development

Humber College

Victoria Abboud most recently served as a professor in the Centre for Innovative Learning at Humber. As an educator for over 20 years across Canada, the United States and Brazil, she brings a unique perspective of the post-secondary landscape while supporting learner and faculty development goals.

Amanda Baker

Inclusive Curriculum Specialist

Humber College

Amanda joined Humber College in 2008 as a partial load instructor, and fell in love with teaching and learning in the college system. She gradually began to focus on curriculum, and, from there, course development. Nine years ago, she became certified as an Instructional Designer, and she has since developed or redeveloped over 250 courses for Humber and several other Ontario colleges. Amanda has worked on numerous projects connected to the progression of innovation in learning design, including a variety of OERs and pedagogical case studies. In January of this year, Amanda accepted the role of Inclusive Curriculum Specialist at Humber, where she works to promote and expand UDL practices at the college. She is very proud to have been one of the organizers of Humber's first UDL Institute, held in March 2023. Amanda also teaches in the eLearning Design & Training Development program at Lambton College.

Vera Beletzan

AVP Teaching and Learning

Humber College

Vera Beletzan is the Associate Vice President, Teaching & Learning at Humber. She led the development of Humber’s Institutional Learning Outcomes Framework in support of graduate employability and has served on numerous system-wide committees and regulatory bodies, including the Heads of Interdisciplinary Studies for the Ontario college system, and the TESL Ontario Professional Association.

Cheryl Francis-Nurse

Faculty and Program Coordinator

Humber College

Cheryl has served in various capacities at Humber College over the past 11 years. Most recently she was Program Coordinator/Professor in the Faculty of Applied Sciences and Technology and is now Project Secondee in Innovative Learning, where she co-facilitates Humber’s Teacher Excellence Program. As a project management professional with over 20 years of experience in government, post-secondary education and consultancy, her focus since joining Humber has been to contribute to the growth and development of the Project Management Graduate Certificate Program. She has an avid interest in Applied Research aimed at creating opportunities for postgraduate students and in managing organizational change.

Mike Karapita

Faculty

Humber College

Mike Karapita, a full time Journalism professor at Humber, has spent his career working in media, teaching about media and addressing the ongoing rapid change in the digital age. He has worked at the Globe and Mail, the Canadian Press, CTV and CBC where he was an Executive Producer. He has been named a Distinguished Faculty winner at Humber and Media Studies professor of the year at Guelph-Humber, and has mentored new faculty hires. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Toronto and a Master's Degree in Journalism from Carleton University.

Mackenzie Ketchell

Faculty

Humber College

Mackenzie Ketchell teaches in the Faculty of Social and Community Services at Humber College. Mackenzie is a Behaviour Analyst and worked with people with intellectual and developmental disabilities before joining Humber. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) has become a framework that guides Mackenzie’s quest for the best possible learning experience for students.

Tania Massa

Associate Dean, Applied Research, and Innovation

Humber College

Responsible for the development, submission and administration of federal and provincial grants and other applied research initiatives. This includes sharing best practices on project, partnership and proposal development and successful project execution with faculty, students and partners. She has extensive experience in designing, operating and strategically planning many innovation programs in post-secondary/industry collaborative research, youth entrepreneurship, seed funding, early-stage commercialization to innovation adoption in the public sector. These have resulted in innovation procurement, technology adoption, economic and talent development in public and private sectors. Tania holds a B.A.Sc. in Engineering Science and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering, both biomedical collaborative options, from the University of Toronto.

Lara McInnis

Faculty

Seneca College

Lara McInnis is a faculty member in Seneca College’s Teaching & Learning Centre. She has been designing and delivering HyFlex learning experiences since the Fall 2022, with many lessons learned, many thoughts to share, and many strategies to learn from others. Lara’s professional interests include Universal Design for Learning, decolonizing the curriculum, culturally sustaining pedagogies, and bringing sustainability into the classroom.

Karyn Olsen

Faculty Developer

Humber College

Karyn (she/her) is a faculty member in an Educational Developer role with Innovative Learning at Humber College. Her teaching areas include anthropology and pedagogies for higher education. She has taught in face-to-face, blended, hybrid, synchronous, and asynchronous classrooms and is committed to supporting peer faculty in expanding their student-centered teaching and course design strategies.

Eleanor E. Pierre

Inclusive Curriculum Specialist

Humber College

Eleanor has almost 30 years of experience in a variety of positions in teaching and learning centers at several higher education institutions. She has consulted locally and internationally in several areas of the pedagogy of teaching and learning. In her practice she demonstrates evidence-based teaching and learning, and assessment strategies that align with Humber’s values and strategic initiatives. She is versatile in the theories related to equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging (EDIB), justice-informed and anti-oppression theories and practices in teaching. Her focus on curriculum design, implementation, and assessment brings a rich source of theory and practice together to assist faculty in building their teaching practice.

Gian Michele Pileri

Educational and Emerging Technology Specialist

George Brown

Gian Michele Pileri is an educational technology specialist. He completed his BFA in photography at the European Institute of Design in Milan, Italy, and earned a BA in Audio-Visual, Communication and Educational Technologies from the University of Ferrara, Italy. During his professional career he accumulated more than 20 years of audio-visual production and teaching expertise across several industries, including entertainment, fashion, education, and retail. In his role as educational technology specialist, Gian plays a pivotal role in supporting faculty in their exploration, experimentation, and use of educational technologies to support teaching and learning. Specifically, he works directly with faculty to research and identify specific technologies that support pedagogical and andragogical approaches for teaching and learning in the digital age. Gian is passionate about supporting faculty with new insights and usage scenarios, and provides personable and informed technology advice. His focus on technology and education includes UDL, accessibility, XR, and Artificial Intelligence.

Kate Staig

Accessibility Consultant

Humber College

Kate Staig is an Accessibility Consultant at Humber College working with learners with disabilities with a specialization in Learning Strategies. Kate sees UDL as the best, scalable solution for growing access needs. Kate enjoys working with faculty to see the benefits this approach for their own practice.

Estefania Toledo

Resilience and Inclusive Curriculum Specialist

Humber College

Estefanía Toledo (she/her) is the Resilience and Inclusive Curriculum Specialist at Humber College and an emerging critical scholar with over 16 years of experience as an educator, researcher, and curriculum developer. She works collectively with staff and faculty to advance inclusive curriculum by developing learner-centred and evidence-based curriculum and programs that advance wellbeing, equity, social justice and decolonization in learning environments. Estefania is also pursuing a PhD in Higher Education at the University of Toronto where she is examining systemic inequities and barriers impacting historically marginalized and minoritized students. Her work aims to disrupt and dismantle systemic barriers, and create pathways towards equity and justice in education. Her research and practice are grounded in critical theories, social justice, and anti-oppression.

Mike Wise

Faculty and Program Coordinator

Humber College

Mike Wise is a full time Journalism professor at Humber and the coordinator of the Postgraduate Journalism program. Before joining Humber, he spent more than three decades working for CBC Television, most recently as the anchor of the local 11:00 newscast in Toronto. Mike teaches TV and radio production, online reporting and basic website design, and helps guide his students through the emerging technologies changing the journalism industry. He holds an honours degree in Political Studies from Queen’s University and in 2022 completed his Master’s Degree in communication and technology from the University of Alberta.

Cynthia Young

Faculty and Program Coordinator

Humber College

Cynthia has been working in communications, media, design, and digital technology for most of her 25-year career with an itch to create and collaborate in every place she's worked. At Humber she is currently seconded to the Innovative Learning Team from the Faculty of Media and Creative Arts, where she is a Program Coordinator and Professor in the Content Strategy Graduate Certificate and developed Humber’s Interaction Design Studio Curriculum. Cynthia also taught part-time at Humber College and The Berlin School of Creative Leadership before joining Humber full time in 2019. She was formerly the Head of Audience at The Globe and Mail Newspaper redesigning their digital product portfolio.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where will the conference be hosted?
This year’s conference will be hosted at the Humber International Graduate School located in downtown Toronto. (59 Hayden Street, 4th Floor, Toronto, ON, M4Y 2P2)
Address and Directions

Where do I park?
Parking is available at the Green P parking garage on the same street at 20 Charles (there is also an entrance to the garage located on Hayden Street). Parking information and daily rates

Can I get to the International Graduate School by public transit? Yes, you can commute to the IGS by public transit (TTC). The Bloor-Yonge subway is located 30 meters away. Public Transit Route

Is there a fee to attend this conference?
No, this is a free professional development conference available to contract faculty in post-secondary.

Where can I find the conference schedule?
The conference schedule will be made available in April, scroll up to see or refresh your browser

What is included with my registration?
Your registration includes the keynote address by Jesse Stommel, featured session with Joseph Gibbons and access to all other sessions throughout the day.

Are meals provided for this conference?
Yes, light refreshments and lunch will be provided to registrants who attend in-person. Complete the registration form and indicate your dietary restrictions. Registration

How do I connect to the WiFi?
Eduroam (education roaming) is a secure, world-wide, WiFi roaming service that allows students and employees at participant institutions to wirelessly connect to the Internet at other participant institutions. Eduroam Reference Guide