In support of the Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada and Toronto Police Services, Campus Services is collaborating with the Department of Public Safety to invite you to participate in this year’s Holiday Gift Drive for Teens. Drop off a new, unwrapped gift for teens by December 11 and bring holiday joy to teens involved with child welfare.

Gift suggestions at $20 to $50 value are listed in the attached flyer for your convenience.

Drop off locations

North Campus:

• LRC Lobby
• NX101 Public Safety Office
• LRC 6th Floor Front Desk
• R building Residence Lobby

Lakeshore Campus:

• L Building Lobby
• WEL Building Lobby
• R building Residence Lobby
• AR building Residence Lobby

For gift card donations, email publicsafety@humber.ca to arrange pick up.

Thank you for your continued support. Questions can be directed to Cassandra Dias, Administrative Assistant, Department of Public Safety, or Connie Sanfilippo, Office Manager, Campus Services.

HUMBER’S NEW SUSTAINABILITY VISION & ACTION PLAN

Lindsay Walker, Director, Office of Sustainability

Humber is in the process of developing its new sustainability vision and action plan. Through several consultation sessions and an online form, 750 people engaged in the plan’s development. A draft plan was tabled with HPC for their input.

The working vision for the new plan is Be the climate action blueprint for the world. To realize this vision, four draft focus areas are proposed:

1. Educate: Dynamic, forward-thinking programs and courses that empower every graduate to shape a more sustainable world.                  
2. Lead: Provide global leadership in sustainable campus development, transforming Humber into a model of environmental sustainability.
3. Engage: Deepen a sustainability culture that translates knowledge into action for a more resilient future.
4. Drive: Embed sustainability into the foundations of Humber’s institutional policy, structures, and decision-making to achieve our institutional goals.

Specific actions were shared relative to each focus area. To track Humber’s progress, the plan aligns with the Sustainability Tracking and Assessment Rating System (STARS) – which identifies the key components of a leading sustainable post-secondary institution.  

NEXT HPC MEETING The next Humber Polytechnic Council meeting will be held in person on November 21, 2024.

QUESTIONS/COMMENTS about HPC meeting highlights, contact regan.mancini@humber.ca. For all other inquiries, contact shovani.samalia@humber.ca.

We are stepping up to the challenge that the climate crisis poses by accelerating our net-zero target by more than two decades. 

In 2029, Humber Polytechnic will be among the first institutions in Canada to reach net zero—proving that bold goals, paired with concrete actions, can drive transformative change. There are not many Canadian institutions taking on decarbonization at this pace and scale, and we hope our work will inspire change far beyond Humber’s campuses. 

Our commitment to net-zero was established in the 2022 Climate Action Plan, that charted the course to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. We are now fast-tracking projects to help us reach the accelerated goal in 2029. 

To learn more about our initiatives, visit the Climate Action Plan page. 

These are the highlights of this month’s new and improved features in Blackboard Ultra that will be live Thursday, November 7. The most relevant updates are related to four key areas:

1. Instructional Design
2. Tests and Assignments
3. Communication and Collaboration
4. Learner progression and personalized experience

Review the full details of this month's updates

Instructional Design

Improvement to Resizing Blocks in Documents

To help with resizing blocks in the Content Designer in an Ultra document, Anthology has modified the resize handle so that instructors can resize a block by selecting the vertical edge of a block. This is what this looks like in the Content Designer:

Empty State Indicator for Documents

Anthology has added an empty state indicator to content blocks in Documents. If a content block is empty, some text displays to tell instructors to select the block to add content. The empty state indicator doesn’t display outside of the edit mode.

Tests & Assignments

Print Tests with questions from Question Pools and other improvements

Instructors can now print tests that include questions from Question Pools. Blackboard will generate a different version of the answer key and test each time a test is printed when the test:

• uses randomized questions or answer options
• includes Question Pools

Instructors can also use the print option to save the answer key and test as a PDF.

Improved performance for assignment file submissions for Students

Working on assignments can be a stressful experience for students. When submitting their work, students need assurance that their files have been successfully attached, received, and stored by Blackboard. They also need to be informed if there is an issue with their submission. In this release, Blackboard has made architectural improvements to mitigate against file corruption and to ensure files are correctly attached during uploads. These updates include:

• Managing Multiple File Uploads: To prevent issues when uploading multiple files, students will now be required to wait for the first upload to completely before attaching additional files.
• File Size Limit Notification: A modal will display a message if a file exceeds the permitted size limit.
• Corrupted File Alerts: In the unlikely event of a student attempts to submit a corrupted file, a modal will notify them of the issue, and the system will alert the instructor.

Communication & Collaboration

Indentations Added to Discussions

To better distinguish between responses and replies, Anthology has added indentation, which looks like the following:

Learner Progression & Personalized Experience

Download Option for Student Activity Log

Instructors and administrators can review the Student Activity Log to review a student's activity in the course, including logging into a course, replying to discussions, submitting assessments, and many others. Anthology has added the option to download the Student Activity Log as a CSV, which appears in the screenshot below:

Blackboard mobile app rebranding

To reflect Anthology Inc.’s rebranding efforts, the Blackboard Learn App will now be known simply as the Blackboard App. The change aligns the app with Anthology, Inc.’s rebranding efforts. The Blackboard App has an updated:

• Splash screen
• App icon
• Name
• App description

These changes reflect Anthology’s vision, which is grounded in dedication to customer-centered innovation to inspire student success and institutional growth.

The full list of November updates is available on the Blackboard Help Center website.

Need additional support? The Innovative Learning Support Centre is here to help!