An assembly of faculty, support staff, students, and administrators, Humber College Council (HCC) is Humber’s collective employee voice, making suggestions to Humber College’s President as it relates to long and short‐term institutional priorities. Held on November 10, HCC’s third meeting of the academic year occurred virtually and welcomed a panel of students to share their Humber experience and encourage the college to reflect on how it continues to support Humber learners post-pandemic.

DIGITAL ONE CARD

Ryan Burton, Director, Digital Solutions, Information Technology Services provided an overview of the Digital OneCard platform and services, including how data is managed and used.

As one of Humber’s Digital Campus Plan initiatives, OneCard is a digital solution that enables students and staff to use a single card for various campus services and identification purposes (e.g., access to vending machines, dining, parking, libraries, computer rentals, printing, copying, key card access, laundry, O2GO, etc.). Legacy solutions such as the keycard pass have not been discontinued as OneCard is dependent on staff and students bringing their device and it is recognized that user device accessibility varies. More than 10,000 people have downloaded the app and 417,000+ transactions have been logged.  

Humber is only using the data for key wallet identification. The app does not enable Humber to surveil user activities or read payment information. It can only identify the user (e.g., whether they are part of Humber or University of Guelph-Humber, their name, role, and email) and based on that information, it enables the user to access certain functions which are tied to their identification (e.g., access to certain areas of the college) or other functions such as payment (e.g., it recognizes whether the user has a sufficient account balance to pay for services). OneCard’s supplier is ITC, a Canadian company. Its data centre is located in Canada.

Exciting features to come include adding pictures for photo identification and access to athletic services and vending machines. For more information, visit: https://humber.ca/onecard/.  For OneCard service related questions, access the Contact Us feature within the app or call x8888.

PANEL DISCUSSION: STUDENT ENGAGEMENT

Humber’s President, Dr. Ann Marie Vaughan, opened the session and spoke about the importance of student engagement, including her own postsecondary education experience, and invited Ian Crookshank, Associate Vice President, Learner and Career Success and Dean of Students to welcome students from IGNITE, Humber’s student government - Aksnoor Kambo, Meshanda Phillips, and Melany Palacios-Naranjo - and a Humber international PR student and student ambassador - Isabella Vergara Bedoya.

The students spoke about their experiences as Humber students, answering questions such as:

1. What do you rely on to be successful as a student at Humber? How might this have changed over the past couple of years? 
2. How did the pandemic impact your ability to maintain relationships at Humber- both during and after the pandemic?
3. What is something that would help you succeed in your future career that is currently not happening or isn’t happening enough?

While all the students were involved in student government/affairs, their perspectives were also grounded in a variety of experiences, ranging from some identifying as international students, domestic students, mature students, and direct from high school.

They linked student success to:

• Being in programs or activities that fuel their passion and keep them motivated to stay engaged.
• Experience with people – in class, at IGNITE, recruiters – that make them feel like they are part of a caring community.
• Ability to contribute to their community and see the results of their work manifest.
• Knowledge of and access to resources, such as faculty information sessions, financial aid, the math centre, mental health support, tutoring, and relationship development with faculty and staff
• Ability to self-advocate (e.g., seek accommodations) and search for resources when needed (e.g., consult social media).
• Self-confidence and drive to pursue intentional connections with faculty and peers, resources (e.g., financial aid), and become involved in student engagement opportunities.
• Kind professors who made efforts to make a connection with them/remember them.

They linked online learning to:

• Lack of connection with faculty, staff and other students, as more effort was required and less opportunities existed (e.g., sports events and clubs weren’t operating). Student cameras were not on during classroom break out groups so it was difficult to engage. Students could choose whether to participate or not and different time zones meant students were connecting at different times.
• Increased connection with faculty and staff, and personal growth.
• Apathy - a sense that “no one is watching”.
• Less knowledge of student services (e.g., when on campus, resources are visible).

To enhance student success, Humber could:

• Increase communications about student services and resources.
• Use social media to connect students (e.g., Black students, LGBTQ, etc.)
• Place posters around campus to advertise events and engagement opportunities.
• Bridge the gap between the institution and mature students to ensure they feel seen.
• Increase student access to professionals in their fields.
• Increase access to textbooks, including making them affordable.
• Support international students with immigration and work placements.
• Place student ambassadors in different departments to share opportunities with other students.
• Increase support for students requiring and completing financial aid applications

CONSULTATION

HCC Members engaged in small group discussions to reflect on the student panel discussion. Members submitted responses to the following questions, which will be summarized along with the student panelists’ feedback and submitted to Humber’s President, Dr. Ann Marie Vaughan.

1. Based on the panel’s feedback and your own experiences, what is Humber doing in terms of the student engagement experience that we could do more of?
2. Based on the panel’s feedback and your own experiences, what could Humber start doing that we don’t currently do? 
3. How does what you heard in the panel support your work?
4. Based on your experiences, what is an observation you’ve made about the student engagement experience between last year and this year that you’d like to share?

NEXT HCC MEETING

The next Humber College Council meeting will be held virtually on December 8, 2022.

For questions or comments about HCC meeting highlights, contact regan.mancini@humber.ca. For supporting materials, meeting minutes or opportunities to provide feedback, please visit the College Council website or contact shovani.samalia@humber.ca.