Student Feedback Questionnaires (SFQs) are available until April 14 and can be accessed via the unique link sent to students' Blackboard email.
All responses are anonymous and confidential.
Students should complete the SFQs at their earliest convenience, or in class as scheduled by the instructor.
For more details about the SFQs, students should reach out to their instructor.
I am thrilled to share the success of our recent Transition to Work (TTW) event hosted by Advising and Career Services in collaboration with Accessible Learning Services. TTW initiatives aim to enhance successful career outcomes and strategies for persons with disabilities. We had 367 registered participants from Humber and Seneca Polytechnic.
This March's two day event featured inspiring sessions including a keynote address by Tim Rose from CIBC and a panel discussion with Aaron Incencio, Sophie Lemieux, Shaun Ghulam, and Cindy Zarnett. Their insights, graduate experience and recruitment perspectives resonated deeply with our students.
The feedback speaks volumes about the impact of the event, with participants expressing sentiments like "All the keynote speakers made me feel that I was not alone. That I should celebrate my strengths" and "hearing from people with disabilities who have successful careers was the most helpful — it was very encouraging to see that I'm not alone in this."
A heartfelt thank you to Alison Bambury, Transition to Work Program Specialist, TTW Committee members – Maria Osea, Oscar Gonzalez, Keisha McQueen, Joey Bognar, moderators and committee members – Keith Manalo and Nafeeza Kadir, Advancement and Alumni, Career and Student Success Advising staff, and our colleagues at Seneca Polytechnic for their invaluable contributions to making this event such a success.
Learn more about this past event and other TTW initiatives: Humber: Defining Polytechnic Education | Humber College Institute of Technology & Advanced Learning - Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Starting Monday, April 29 through Sunday, September 1, we're rolling out fresh, summer-friendly hours at the Humber Fitness Centre.
Hours
Monday to Friday: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
While we're adjusting our hours, we're still fully committed to providing top-notch service. You can still enjoy our popular fitness classes, personalized training sessions, and the unwavering support of our friendly staff.
Although our hours are shorter, our dedication to your fitness journey remains unchanged. Let's make this summer your healthiest one yet!
See you soon at the Humber Fitness Centre.
Don’t miss out on your opportunity to register! Student trainer availability is limited to the number of students enrolled in the experiential learning course for Fitness and Health Promotion. This offer is exclusive to the Humber community (students, staff, faculty).
Delivery of Training:
Workout Program Components Include:
Please Note:
Student Personal Training is subject to change due to the course requirements; availability is based on student course enrollment. Registration does not guarantee a student trainer for the semester. Participants placed on a wait list will be notified. In-person training sessions may only take place at the North Campus Fitness Centre. Student Trainers complete training sessions with assigned participants as part of the experiential learning course in the Fitness and Health Promotion diploma program at Humber College.
A fee of $75.00 (non-refundable) will be applicable and due at the beginning of the Summer Semester 2024 to participate in this program.
For further information, please review the registration form in the link below:
Fitness Student Personal Training - Registration Form - Summer Semester 2024
If you are interested in participating, please complete and submit the form as soon as possible to confirm your registration since this program fills up quickly. The registration form takes approximately five minutes to complete.
North Campus to be Closed on Sunday, May 26, 2024
When: Sunday, May 26, 2024 (7 a.m. to 7 p.m.)
Location: North Campus – all buildings including the University of Guelph-Humber, Residences and the Arboretum/Centre for Urban Ecology.
Purpose: To perform planned annual high voltage preventative maintenance on electrical infrastructure.
The Humber North Campus will be closed on Sunday, May 26, 2024. Students and employees will not be allowed entry into the College facilities (with the exception of Residence) during the hydro service interruption.
All mechanical, electrical and technology systems across North Campus will be offline during the shutdown.
Central systems including Banner, Blackboard, Email and humber.ca will not be accessible through on-campus services. However, central systems will be accessible through an individual’s own internet connection (such as home internet, 3G and LTE).
For schools/departments with a refrigerator/freezer in their area (or a common area or staff room), please remember to empty/throw out unused food as the power will be off across Campus.
The Centre for Trades and Technology (Carrier Drive) and the Transportation Training Centre (Woodbine Downs) will not be affected by the hydro service interruption.
For more information or if you have questions, please contact Chris Nanos, Manager, Plant Services and Building Maintenance, at chris.nanos@humber.ca.
April is such an exciting time on campus when some of our graduating students present their capstone projects!
This month, we showcase Associate Dean, Francis Syms P.Eng. who extends our gratitude to faculty, staff, industry, and community partners who have generously supported our students and their capstone projects during their final journey at Humber College.
We have many more compelling stories that I look forward to you discovering on the following pages, including features on our faculty who are working on research projects that have the potential for real positive change.
Warm regards,
Paul Griffin
Senior Dean, Faculty of Applied Sciences & Technology
At this time of year it is common for instructors to experience an influx of requests for extensions on assignments and tests. Please consider the following:
Students may miss assignment deadlines or tests/exams. For students with disabilities, it could be due to an unpredictable flare-up of their condition outside of their control.
It can be difficult for faculty to balance academic rigor and accountability for what students are to learn, with a fair and manageable process for those who miss required tests/exams and assignments.
Consider creating a contingency supplemental assignment or alternate version of each test/exam that can be used during the semester as needed.
Please view the attached article on suggestions to manage missed exams and assignments: Dealing With Students Missing Exams and In-Class Graded Assignments – Association for Psychological Science – APS
Visit our ALS Information for Faculty website to learn more about accommodating students with disabilities.
Please email us at accessible-learning@humber.ca with suggestions for key accessibility-related topics that you would like us to address through the Communiqué.
A near-total solar eclipse will occur on April 8, 2024, between 2 p.m. and 4:30 p.m., with the peak occurring at 3:19 p.m. in Toronto. This will be an exciting and unique event, but it brings with it potential health and safety risks for any workers or students required to be outdoors.
Looking directly at the sun for any length of time is very hazardous to the eyes – it can impact your vision and cause permanent damage. In addition to the eye hazards, it may get darker outdoors as the eclipse approaches totality – this limited visibility can pose a safety hazard.
If you are a worker or student who may be outdoors during this event:
If you are a supervisor of outdoor workers, or an instructor for an outdoor class, consider the following:
Together, we can ensure that this exciting event is experienced safely. For more information, please email healthandsafety@humber.ca.
Here are the highlights of this month’s new and improved features in Blackboard Ultra. For more details, please follow the links below:
AI Design Assistant – Context picker for Learning Modules, Assignments, Discussions, and Journals
Last month, a feature called context picker was released which allows specific course items to be associated with particular tests, resulting in more focused questions generated by the AI Design Assistant. For this release, the context picker was extended to Learning Modules, Assignments, Discussions, and Journals, enabling the AI Design Assistant to auto-generate more relevant content associated with the item instructors select.
Default question points value changed from 10 to 1
Many instructors prefer assigning a value of 1 point to a test question. Responding to these requests, the default value has now been changed from 10 to 1.
Duplicate questions in Assessments, Forms, and Question Banks
Instructors often spend a significant amount of time adding questions to an assessment on Blackboard Ultra. The feature to duplicate questions is now available in the latest release. This saves time and reduces errors in creating questions, as there is no need to go through the same steps each time for similar questions.
Likert answer options expanded to include 4 and 6
Likert questions were recently introduced in Forms, originally with answer options limited to 3, 5, or 7. These odd numbers allow for a neutral option, though this may not be suitable for some questions. To add flexibility, options now include 4 and 6, letting instructors choose any number between 3 to 7.
Auto-submitted indicator in attempt logs
Attempt log of individual student can be accessible from each assessment from the Gradebook. Now events include “Auto submitted” which allows instructors to see if the submission was manual or automatic. This gives instructors more insight into student behaviors and enables them to track student progress more effectively.
This modification improves the usability of the Student Activity report on small devices, while also promoting inclusivity.
Individual date adjustments from Batch Edit
The batch edit feature is accessible from the content page, located just below the "student preview". This tool allows instructors to modify visibility status and adjust due dates. For this release, an additional function has been added to allow editing the "show on" and "hide after" dates. With this update, instructors can alter these dates from a single page, eliminating the need to navigate through each content item.
To adjust the "show on" and "hide after" dates, click on the calendar icon at the right side of the item on the batch edit page. This new feature enhances convenience for instructors.
Student feedback remains visible to students regardless of release condition settings
When the release condition hides assessment items, grades given to the assessment are visible but associated comment weren’t visible. With this update, students can view comments given to the assessment that is hidden by its release condition. This behavior aligns better with what’s expected of the Gradebook.
Anonymous posts for Discussions
By default, discussion posts are not graded. Anonymity can sometimes lead to more engagement on certain topics. This release allows instructors to make non-graded discussions anonymous, offering greater flexibility.
Usability improvements for flexible grading
Several improvements have been made to flexible grading to minimize confusion. Previously, both the submission grade pill and overall grade pill were visible, making it easy for instructors to inadvertently override a grade. The updated version only displays the submission grade pill by default. It also allows instructors to easily navigate between different submissions by positioning the attempt pull-down menu to the left of the grade pill. To override a grade, instructors must intentionally click '...' to reveal the grading pill. These usability enhancements significantly reduce confusion among instructors.
Add question feedback when grading by student in Flexible Grading
General feedback is beneficial when instructors must provide overall comments on assessments. However, if there are multiple questions and each requires individual comments, it's more efficient to provide feedback at the question level. This month’s release includes this feature, enhancing usability for both instructors and students.
The full list of April updates is available on the Blackboard Help Center website.
The full article is also posted on BB Hub: New and Improved Features in Blackboard Ultra – April 2024 Update
Need additional support? The IL Support Centre is here to help!
WWF’s CN Tower Climb for Nature has become an annual tradition with more than 140,000 people climbing the iconic tower’s 1,776 steps.
FYE has committed to climbing the CN Tower in April to support WWF-Canada. We are totally up for this physical and fundraising challenge. While we are doing our part, we are counting on you to help us reach our fundraising goal by April 20. The funds will help support WWF-Canada's efforts to restore nature, reverse wildlife loss, and fight climate change.
Register to climb and join a movement to protect and restore nature.
Together we can regenerate Canada!
If you are interested in climbing, the minimum to donate is $125.
