Schulich ExecEd partnership to empower municipal leaders
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On June 7, the City of Ottawa hosted a Celebration of Learning event recognizing the 50 Schulich ExecEd Masters Certificate in Municipal Leadership program participants for their dedication and accomplishments.
The City of Ottawa has long recognized the pivotal role of skilful leadership in achieving its vision of prosperity, sustainability and resilience. For over a decade, York University’s Schulich ExecEd has been a trusted partner, helping to equip Ottawa’s leaders with the knowledge and tools needed to navigate the increasingly complex challenges of municipal leadership. This past year, Schulich ExecEd delivered an updated version of its Masters Certificate in Municipal Leadership program to 50 City of Ottawa managers.
Customized to meet the diverse needs of both new and seasoned leaders at the City of Ottawa, this 12-day learning program, which unfolded over 12 months, included three modules: Essentials of Municipal Leadership, Strategic Municipal Leadership and – the new addition – Future-proofing Municipalities.
“This program has challenged the participants to think about the type of leader they want to be – someone who encourages and develops people, who listens, who models integrity, who puts others first, and who acts with courage and care as we work together to build a truly great city,” said Wendy Stephanson, city manager. “It has also presented a wonderful opportunity for our leaders to broaden their skills and explore new and innovative ways of thinking.”
The new module epitomizes the City of Ottawa’s forward-looking vision, challenging participants to embrace complexity, leverage data, and lead through change with strategic foresight and digital acumen.
The cohort-based learning experience also provided networking and collaboration opportunities among leaders across different departments, fostering a culture of peer-to-peer learning and building collegial relationships to last beyond the program.
“The content was like a reassuring reality check,” said one participant. “Everyone is facing similar struggles and challenges, but all we have to do is redefine how we look at these and give ourselves some leeway in terms of how we define success.”
Last month, the City of Ottawa hosted a Celebration of Learning event, recognizing the 50 program participants for their dedication and accomplishments. With leaders from both the city and Schulich ExecEd in attendance, the celebration served as a testament to the transformative power of education and collaboration in shaping the leaders of tomorrow.
“In an era of unprecedented uncertainty, the need for skilled and agile leaders in the public sector has never been more apparent,” said Rami Mayer, executive director of Schulich ExecEd. “ExecEd’s Masters Certificate in Municipal Leadership program delves deep into the psychology of leadership, effective communication, cultures of innovation, political acuity and agile decision-making. Those are skills that municipal leaders of our future need to harness today to nurture their leadership strengths, and those of their teams, and deliver on their commitment to provide exceptional service to their communities.”
Through strategic partnerships like this one, municipal professionals are being empowered with the skills and knowledge necessary to continue to shape the future of the communities they serve.
Lassonde partnership leverages 3D printing to address housing crisis
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At York University’s Lassonde School of Engineering, building relationships with external partners is a key objective that not only enhances Lassonde’s reach and reputation but provides students with unique learning opportunities and experiences.
Liam Butler
Recently, Liam Butler, an associate professor in the Department of Civil Engineering, teamed up with construction company Printerra, which offers 3D construction printing. Together, they are helping to address Canada’s growing demand for affordable and sustainable housing by manufacturing 3D-printed concrete homes. Using state-of-the-art printing technology and low-carbon concrete materials, the project’s goal is to transform the future of housing construction by reducing both labour costs and construction time.
In support of this initiative, Butler received funding through the Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council of Canada’s Alliance Advantage program. In addition to aiding research objectives, this funding will allow for the training and recruitment of graduate-level student researchers, who will have the opportunity to advance their engineering skills through lab testing and field monitoring.
“The major goals of this project are testing the feasibility of 3D-printed concrete homes and their long-term performance against different climate conditions,” says Butler.
This project will take advantage of innovative facilities at Lassonde, including the High Bay Structures Lab and the Climate-Data-Driven Design (CD3) Facility – a unique space that allows for outdoor testing and monitoring of natural and infrastructure materials to evaluate their performance under realistic climate conditions.
3D concrete printing of structural components at Lassonde’s Climate-Data-Driven Design Facility.
“Printerra is the first industry partner to directly undertake work at the CD3 Facility,” says Butler. “This project fulfills the entire vision of the facility, and we hope it will put us on the map and generate further interest from industry partners.”
In addition to performance testing, Butler will focus on the development of low-carbon concrete mixtures that can be used to 3D print structural components.
Similar to 3D printing with plastics and metals, using concrete involves the successive deposition of thin layers of material through an extrusion nozzle. The properties of the concrete must be closely controlled to ensure each layer hardens and holds its shape prior to adding the next layer.
Typically, these mixtures contain significant amounts of Portland cement, a conventional material used to make concrete – and a significant contributor to global carbon dioxide emissions. By developing new, low-carbon concrete materials, Butler will establish a sustainable alternative to conventional concrete, helping to offset the associated carbon footprint of 3D-printed housing.
This project also gives student researchers the chance to collaborate with industry professionals and achieve research outcomes that directly relate to industrial applications. Such opportunities are crucial for career preparation, offering learners hands-on experiences and connections that are invaluable as they transition from academia to their professional careers.
“This project is going to demonstrate the strong potential of 3D-printed concrete homes while building trust in new, low-carbon concrete materials and construction technologies – it is a very exciting time for our research group,” says Butler.
Lassonde celebrates International Women in Engineering Day
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Each year on June 23, International Women in Engineering Day honours the efforts and achievements of women while highlighting the need for diversification in the field. In celebration of this day, York University’s Lassonde School of Engineering is spotlighting Zoi Ralli, Stavroula Pantazopoulou and Baoxin Hu – three of the many inspiring women at Lassonde who are demonstrating excellence in engineering through their passion, expertise and solutions-driven research.
Zoi Ralli
Zoi Ralli working in the lab.
A postdoctoral fellow in the Civil Engineering Department, Ralli has developed and tested a novel, sustainable concrete formulated with recycled waste material instead of cement.
“Cement production is a very energy-intensive process,” explains Ralli, “and it is responsible for seven per cent of carbon dioxide emissions globally.”
Ralli’s cement-free concrete addresses the extreme sustainability concerns of traditional concrete production, boasting a 70 to 90 per cent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. The material was developed with byproducts from a Canadian quarry, comprised of Earth materials and minerals like silicon and aluminum. She also designed the concrete with microfibers to improve its overall strength and performance. These steel, needle-like fibers allow the concrete to withstand harsh conditions, while minimizing cracking and increasing durability.
“Our paper shows that it is possible to completely eliminate the use of cement by replacing it with geological and industrial waste materials to develop a high-performance and sustainable concrete,” she says.
Stavroula Pantazopoulou
Stavroula Pantazopoulou
Another achievement worth celebrating is the recent recognition of Lassonde Professor Stavroula Pantazopoulou – coincidentally, Ralli’s supervisor – as a fellow of the prestigious Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE). This distinction reflects her significant research impact and dedication to science and engineering, further underscoring the exceptional contributions of women at Lassonde.
“For me, this award represents the most important recognition of my work,” says Pantazopoulou, who was one of a small number of highly accomplished individuals to be selected as a CAE fellow this year. “No other award compares to this one.”
This commendation is a testament to the transformative efforts Pantazopoulou has made to the field of structural engineering. Her research focuses on addressing a range of complex and emerging infrastructure concerns. In particular, she dedicates her work to enhancing the structural design of various infrastructure, to improve resistance against earthquakes and other extreme events. Though modern infrastructure is typically developed with resilient materials, many older buildings are constructed with less advanced components, posing safety risks to occupants. To address this concern, Pantazopoulou’s work aims to upgrade and retrofit older buildings with new and innovative materials.
As a newly appointed CAE fellow, she is positioned to further advance the field of structural engineering and elevate her research to new heights.
Baoxin Hu
Baoxin Hu
Hu, a professor in the Department of Earth & Space Science & Engineering, is an accomplished researcher at Lassonde who recently secured significant funding – three grants in total – from the Canadian Space Agency and Forestry Futures Trust Ontario. She will use this support to advance her forest management research through remotely sensed data analysis and the development of various artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.
Motivated by the urgent demand for accurate information regarding carbon sequestered forest ecosystems, as well as the need for highly qualified personnel with particular skills and knowledge to help tackle climate change, Hu is leading a multidisciplinary team to address and create solutions for carbon stock in forest ecosystems. Through funding from the Canadian Space Agency, the team will use satellite Earth observation data to develop AI methods that can accurately quantify carbon flux and stocks in Canadian forests.
With funding from Forestry Futures Trust Ontario, Hu’s second project is aimed at improving sustainable forest management and biodiversity conservation by developing AI methods to survey lichens in Canadian forests. These organisms play many critical roles in forest ecosystem dynamics, like serving as a dietary source for various animals and supporting water and nutrient cycling. Using single photon LiDAR (SPL) data, Hu and her team will map and characterize lichens in the Ontario boreal forest and use this information to develop AI methods that can effectively predict lichen distribution in other forest ecosystems.
Hu’s third project, also funded by Forestry Futures Trust Ontario, will explore drone-based AI technologies, referred to as remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS), and their ability to analyze conditions of forest ecosystems. Specifically, these RPAS will collect data concerning the effects of silviculture, which is the practice of controlling the growth and composition of forests. By collecting this data, different forest ecosystems can be classified based on the intensity of silviculture, enabling forest managers to gain a more comprehensive understanding of forest environments.
To learn more about the ways Lassonde provides support, resources and opportunities for women in engineering, visit Lassonde’s Women in Science & Engineering web page.
York University rises to top 35 globally in Times Higher Education Impact Rankings
York University has risen an impressive five spots to be among the top 35 institutions in the world for advancing the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), according to this year’s Times Higher Education Impact Rankings, published today.
This is a testament to the growing recognition for York’s global leadership on the SDG Challenge and has been made possible by our community of changemakers – faculty, staff, students, course directors, alumni and our many partners. It is your commitment to our shared values of sustainability, inclusivity and equity that has enabled us to achieve our highest ranking yet.
On behalf of the University, thank you for your individual contributions and collective efforts in interdisciplinary research, teaching, and a myriad of campus initiatives and community projects, which have led to this success.
With an additional 300+ universities joining the rankings this year, York has continued to hold its leading position among more than 2,100+ universities worldwide for the sixth consecutive year. York has a particularly strong global standing in the following categories:
SDG 1 (No Poverty) – #2 in the world and #1 in Canada;
SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities) – 33rd in the world and #1 in Canada; and
SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) – tied for 13th in the world.
This is an achievement we all share and one that the entire York community can take great pride in. We are delighted to see the community united by our common goals: to realize the University Academic Plan 2020-25 and to answer the call of the SDG Challenge.
When we work together to create positive change there is no limit on York’s ability to address the most pressing global issues of our time. Read the News@York story for more details.
Sincerely,
Rhonda Lenton President & Vice-Chancellor
Lisa Philipps Provost & Vice-President Academic
Amir Asif Vice-President Research & Innovation
Those who wish to share the news in social media posts or email signatures can find instructions on how to do so in the THE Impact Rankings Toolkit.
Bike Month kicks off with Transportation Services
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Join York University’s Transportation Services Department to kick off Bike Month – a month-long celebration of cycling across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area – on June 5 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in front of Vari Hall (VH Plaza) on the Keele Campus.
During the month of June, Transportation Services is partnering with Bike Share Toronto, Cycle York and Smart Commute to celebrate Bike Month by offering York University community members a range of bike-friendly resources, including Toronto cycling maps, quick bike repairs and safety handbooks. At the June 5 event, attendees can ask questions to event partners, compete for prizes, and learn about local cycling infrastructure, related services and the benefits of bikes as a form of sustainable travel.
The annual celebration of Bike Month at York University highlights the institution’s commitment to ensuring sustainable travel options are available across its multi-campus network.
York University was the first institution in the Greater Toronto Area to partner with Bike Share Toronto in 2021, eventually leading to three Bike Share stations being established on the Keele and Glendon campuses. This strategic partnership helped strengthen the cycling culture across university campuses and helped promote sustainable transportation.
These efforts, among others, led York University to be named a Best University for Commuters – the first institution in Canada to receive this designation. Among many reasons for the recognition, the University’s cycling infrastructure and resources – including secured bike enclosures and four do-it-yourself repair stations – were an important factor, providing cyclists with peace of mind and flexibility while navigating York’s campuses on two wheels. The designation reflects York’s commitment to providing a variety of sustainable commuting options aimed at reducing the carbon footprint of students, faculty, instructors and staff.
Over the years, the expansion of York University’s cycling infrastructure has been equally matched by community adoption, contributing to the University’s mission to reach its new accelerated target of net-zero emissions by 2040.
Urban Studies students advance learning with Montreal field trip
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Living in the Greater Toronto Area, it’s not complicated for students in the Cities, Regions, Planning program at the Faculty of Environmental & Urban Change (EUC) to assess Toronto’s strengths and weakness, but an annual field trip to Montreal allows them to apply their analytical skills elsewhere.
For five years, Teresa Abbruzzese, an assistant professor and urban geographer, organized a field school – a short-term academic program consisting of mentored field research – in the fall for third-year Urban Studies students in her research methods course in the Department of Social Science in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies.
She was excited to bring this experiential learning opportunity to her new home in the Cities, Regions, Planning program for her third-year course, Doing Urban Research: Theory & Practice, for the Fall 2024 term.
The initiative gives students a chance to experience another city, using participant observation while taking notes and photos and having conversations with local citizens. The trip is mandatory and the costs are low, but there is a day trip to Hamilton, Ont., for a cheaper alternative.
“The trip enables our students see the historical and contemporary issues facing Montreal and to develop a comparative understanding of cities,” said Abbruzzese. “It’s also important to give them the opportunity to do preliminary fieldwork.”
“The point of the trip is to prepare them to work on their own individualized research project,” she said. “It trains them to be social scientists and allows them to hone their academic skills, such as critical analysis, research and writing.”
At City Hall, (Front Row, L to R): Prof. Doug Young, Prof. Teresa Abbruzzese, Councillor Sterling Downey, Prof. Silvano de la Llata (Concordia University), and Prof. Mike Cado right (Music, York); other rows: third-year students in Urban Studies/Cities, Regions, Planning
The Montreal field school emerged from a political moment in history when Donald Trump assumed the American presidency in 2017. Abbruzzese and her colleagues in Urban Studies at the time decided to halt the field school to Buffalo – the original international location of the field school for many years – and instead they chose Montreal as the setting.
Once the Canadian city was decided, Abbruzzese thoroughly enjoyed the creative process of putting together a new field school.
“Logistically, it’s never easy to execute, but I strive to enhance the field school experience each year,” she said. “All the guest speakers make this field school special and welcome our urban group from York University back each year.”
She, her students, and other professors boarded a Megabus for the ride east and followed a packed itinerary that included historian/expert-led walking tours of neighbourhoods such as Saint-Henri, Montreal North, Little Burgundy and Mile End; a visit with City Councillor Sterling Hall – who has experienced homelessness – and a tour of City Hall; and talks by professors from Concordia University.
The students packed a lot into the trip, getting a sense of the richness and diversity of Montreal. They saw poverty and affluence, arts and industry. They gained an understanding of some of the city’s challenges with issues such as housing, transportation, socioeconomic disparities, public spaces and heritage as well as the French-English divide, said Abbruzzese.
“All of this sparks comparative analysis in their heads and they begin to ask a lot of questions,” she said. “They’ll use all of this to create a manuscript – a fieldwork diary organized around themes. They’ll organize, reflect, and analyze their empirical notes and contextualize their observations with broader scholarly conversations in Urban Studies.”
Just as important, noted Abbruzzese, is that the trip serves to transform the class from individual students into a community.
“It is a tradition for professors from the program to join this field school, so that students have an opportunity to get to know the other professors in the program, and professors get to know the students,” she said. “Professor Doug Young from the Urban Studies program has joined me on this field school from Buffalo to Montreal for the last eight years. Students have always appreciated sharing this experience with other professors from the program, which made the experience more memorable.”
“In addition, students become a support network for each other and become more connected after this field school,” she said. “They’re all friends afterward.”
Vanessa Reynolds
Vanessa Reynolds, a third-year geography and urban studies major, confirms that. “This was a group that hadn’t talked to each other in class, but we all bonded and, now, we’re really friends,” she said. “It was such a great experience; I’d recommend that anyone do it.”
She found the trip eye-opening in many ways, and changed her perspectives.
“I’m so Toronto-centric, but seeing Montreal gave me deeper insights into how a city runs, and seeing different parts of the city that people often don’t was amazing,” Reynolds said. Furthermore, she added, “I want to travel more. It makes you want to see the world. It was an experience that made university different.”
Shazde Mir, a fourth-year urban studies major who plans to pursue a career in policy development or community planning, said Abbruzzese’s passion for Montreal made her glad she took the trip, as she got to know the city and gain insights into city planning.
“I saw a different perspective of what it means to be an equitable city,” Mir said. “You can’t treat people as less than.”
After visiting a working-class neighbourhood with prominent community initiatives that reminded her of Toronto’s Jane and Finch area, Mir wondered why cities have areas where a lack of investment from the government is visible.
“I’ve started looking into tours here in Toronto to get to know the history of the city’s development,” she said. “I want to go back to Montreal and I’d like to visit other cities to see how different governments went about developing them, what the priorities were.
“The trip solidified my love for Toronto. I want to see more progressive policies so we can create a more equitable city.”
Ultimately, said Abbruzzese, “our objective is to produce graduates who are informed, critically engaged, and sensitive to issues of sustainability, social justice, equity and diversity.”
Given the feedback, it is apparent she is meeting that goal.
k2i academy and TDSB engage girls in STEM
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With the goal of encouraging girls to explore science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) pathways and United Nations Sustainable Development Goals ( UN SDGs), the k2i academy – an initiative by York University’s Lassonde School of Engineering – engaged with students at the Young Women on the Move: Possibilities Conference at Runnymede Elementary School, hosted by the Toronto District School Board (TDSB).
Since June 2020, the k2i academy and the TDSB have worked in partnership to foster a variety of programs aimed at breaking down barriers in STEM education. For example, the Bringing STEM to Life: In Schools initiative has brought experiential education to schools across the Greater Toronto Area, and the recently 407 ETR-funded Work Integrated Learning Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Fund will expand STEM offerings to under-represented students throughout the area, too.
The most recent example of the partnership, the Young Women on the Move event, engaged 200 girls from eight different elementary schools through an engineering design challenge – with a focus on the SDG priority on sustainable cities and communities – organized by the k2i team.
Mentors and k2i academy staff guided the students through building prototypes of earthquake-resilient structures, underlining the importance of creating inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable urban environments. In the process, they learned about earthquakes, the principles of stable structures, and the iterative process of designing, building and testing their prototypes using shaker testing tables.
This practical, hands-on experience introduced the girls to the engineering design process, emphasizing problem-solving and creativity in addressing real-world issues.
“Through our Possibilities Conference, we wanted to empower young women to see the endless possibilities available to them by building their confidence, breaking down barriers and stereotypes, and encouraging them to explore non-traditional courses of study,” says Lauren Rovas, vice-principal and Possibilities Conference lead organizer, TDSB.
As a result, the k2i academy and the TDSB continue their shared purpose, and partnership, in encouraging the future of STEM careers being more inclusive.
“As a woman who studied physics, it is important for me to encourage and inspire the next generation of girls to consider STEM career pathways,” says Lisa Cole, director of programming, k2i academy. “k2i is thrilled to partner with TDSB to design and deliver programs that encourage youth to discover their curiosities, develop skills in coding and engineering design, and reach students and families who may not have considered STEM pathways.”
New CIHR Chair to advance Indigenous health research
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Professor Michael Rotondi of the School of Kinesiology & Health Science at York University was named an Applied Public Health Research Chair by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Public Health Agency of Canada to further advance a career dedicated to supporting the priorities of local Indigenous communities.
Michael Rotondi
Rotondi’s appointment on March 26 to the 2024 cohort of Applied Public Health Research Chairs means he will receive $1.15 million in funding over six years to build on over a decade of working in partnership with Indigenous community health service providers to develop and apply advanced statistical techniques to improve the health of First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples living in urban areas. Only 45 of these prestigious Chairs have been awarded since 2008, and Rotondi is the first professor at York to receive one and join the distinguished cohort.
“I am honoured to receive the award and humbled and grateful for the trust that the local Indigenous community partners and Elders have placed in me to help support their research and policy goals,” says Rotondi.
The Chair – titled Indigenous Health Counts: Combining Respondent-Driven Sampling, Partnerships and Training to Empower Urban Indigenous Communities – will advance several of Rotondi’s existing initiatives, including partnering with Statistics Canada to develop more accurate population counts of Indigenous Peoples living in cities and measuring the long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on chronic health and mental health outcomes like diabetes, kidney disease, depression and anxiety in local, urban Indigenous populations. He will also look to co-create a health data training program to train the next generation of Indigenous researchers in data analysis techniques.
“Due to long-standing systemic barriers, there is a lack of quantitative health researchers who identify as Indigenous,” says Rotondi. “With the support of this program, we look forward to the near future when there is a substantial number of Indigenous peoples who have developed their expertise in data analysis and statistical methods and are able to share their own ‘data stories.’”
Building on Rotondi’s statistical expertise in respondent-driven sampling, his goal is to help address the lack of reliable health information for First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples in Canadian cities in order to identify and address large services gaps, and to advance the health and well-being of the local Indigenous community.
“I always see statistics as a tool to help, whether it is helping individuals, or entire communities. As an ally, my goal is to support the local Indigenous community to tell their own stories and help ensure they have the tools and information available to advocate for their needs,” says Rotondi.
In previous research, Rotondi and collaborators have determined that official census data vastly undercounts the local Indigenous population in Toronto, which leads to a critical inability to ensure the local Indigenous community receives appropriate health and social services. Rotondi and collaborators have also produced important data throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, providing one of the only sources of reliable data examining the rates of COVID-19 transmission and vaccination for Indigenous Peoples living in cities.
These studies have fallen under the Our Health Counts projects, which aim to create comprehensive health and wellness information for Indigenous Peoples living in urban areas, and have been developed in partnership with Well Living House and urban Indigenous service providers in six Ontario cities over 15 years.
His Chair program will continue to build on these community priorities. “I am excited to continue this work with the Indigenous community partners and local municipal, provincial and federal government agencies,” says Rotondi. “The results of this program will have substantial impact at the individual, community and policy levels.”
Open Education Month puts spotlight on accessible education
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March is Open Education Month, a time to celebrate open educational resources (OER), which are openly licensed, freely available educational materials that can be used, accessed, adapted and redistributed with limited restriction. York University’s engagement with OER has continued to expand and grow over the recent years, helping faculty create inclusive and adaptable learning environments while advancing a number of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) – specifically, UN SDG 4: Quality Education, UN SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities, and UN SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities.
In an upcoming series of webinars scheduled for this month, Dominique Scheffel-Dunand, an associate professor in linguistics at York and co-lead for Camerise, York’s French-as-a-second-language (FSL) hub, will spearhead efforts to promote the use of Camerise, H5P, and Pressbooks for developing inclusive OER for FSL and English as a second language (ESL). Supported by a $5,000 award from eCampusOntario, Scheffel-Dunand and her co-presenter, education technology consultant Sushumna Rao Tadinada, will deliver these webinars in both English and French.
“The events that York is hosting and participating in for Open Education Month show that the University is making great strides to support the University Academic Plan’s priority of Access to Success,” said Sarah Coysh, associate dean of digital engagement and strategy at York University Libraries. “Open educational practices in the classroom help provide students with access to course learning materials from the first day of classes. Our York eCampusOntario OER Rangers have also been instrumental in helping to spread awareness of open education on campus and providing faculty, staff, and graduate students with training and guidance on embedding these practices into their teaching and outreach programs,”
The first webinar, titled “Creating Accessible Interactive OER with H5P for Language Teaching (FSL and ESL),” on March 14 from 8 to 9 a.m., will demonstrate the use of the Canvas (LMS) and H5P platforms to design massive open online courses (MOOCs) – open-access courses with unlimited participation – in both English and French, focusing on the values of openness and diversity.
The subsequent events will delve deeper into using Pressbooks and H5P to publish interactive and inclusive learning modules.
The second and third event, titled “Libérer la puissance de l’apprentissage interactif et inclusif avec Pressbooks et H5P en FLS et ESL,” will be offered first as a webinar and then as a hands-on workshop by Scheffel-Dunand and Tadinada Ra. Delivered in French, the sessions will illustrate using Pressbooks to publish collections of training modules developed with H5P and made accessible on Lumi, H5P.com, HTML or in PDF format. The two events focus on how to conceptualize the interoperability between various tools and publishing platforms such as H5P or Pressbooks to foster accessible and interactive learning, from K-12 to post-secondary education.
“These webinars and workshop have been co-designed with Ontario educators to ensure stakeholders in FSL and ESL in the province and beyond explore how to author high-quality content and why it matters that such content be discoverable, reproducible and modified for localized contexts to meet community needs for language and culture,” said Scheffel-Dunand.
During the first week of March, eCampusOntario – a nonprofit organization supporting technology-enabled teaching, learning and innovation at Ontario’s publicly funded universities, colleges and Indigenous institutes – will also be hosting several webinars to promote OER and open educational practices. Charlotte de Araujo,an assistant professor in York’s Faculty of Science, and Stephanie Quail, acting director of the Libraries’ Open Scholarship department, were accepted into eCampusOntario’s OER Ranger program last August, making them York’s institutional champions of the use of OER.
“The OER Ranger program has provided us with the opportunity to share the benefits of OERs with our academic community, promoting a collaborative dialogue between stakeholders and encouraging OER integration in our teaching practices,” says de Araujo. “Being able to implement OERs, whether it is a textbook chapter or an ancillary resource to review course content, can be one solution to help alleviate cost challenges, enabling students to freely revisit course material, fostering lifelong learning for all stakeholders.”
Quail adds, “Being an eCampusOntario OER Ranger has provided me with the opportunity to build my network of open education advocates across Ontario, while also co-creating events at York University with my fellow ranger to support faculty, staff and student engagement with open educational practices.”
As York University continues to champion OER and open educational practices, it exemplifies its commitment to accessible and inclusive education, paving the way for innovative pedagogy and community-driven learning initiatives.
York community working together to achieve UN SDGs
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In response to global challenges like climate change, pandemics, inequality and political polarization, York University continues to advance positive change through the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) with innovative thinking, groundbreaking projects and meaningful collaborations.
Introduced in 2015, the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development outlines 17 interconnected SDGs aimed at addressing global social, economic, and environmental issues to promote the well-being of all people and the planet.
The 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
York’s University Academic Plan, which was launched in 2020, includes a commitment to enhance the University’s contributions to the SDGs. Notably, the University’s achievements in advancing the SDGs were recognized in the 2023 Times Higher Education Impact Rankings, where York was positioned among the top 40 universities globally. York placed in the top 100 in nine SDGs, with a strong standing in the following categories:
SDG 1: No Poverty (21st in the world);
SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities (25th in the world); and
SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities (12th in the world).
“York’s third and most recent annual report on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals demonstrates how we are bringing positive change to communities around the world,” said Lisa Philipps, provost and vice-president academic. “Our community has demonstrated once again why our partnerships, research and academic innovation are at the centre of our success as a leading Canadian university dedicated to building a better future.”
York has prioritized ethical research practices by establishing the first wholly autonomous Indigenous Research Ethics Board at a Canadian post-secondary institution. This initiative, which addresses SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions, reaffirms York’s commitment to decolonizing research methodologies and amplifying Indigenous voices and perspectives in academic discourse. Indigenous knowledge is also being recognized in the context of municipal climate solutions through the creation of a Climate Change Solutions Park in the town of Penetaguishene, Ont., which is led by Faculty of Environmental & Urban Change Professor José Etcheverry.
For students, organizations like the SDG Student Hub facilitate learning and engagement with the SDGs. Events such as York Capstone Day provide platforms for students to present sustainable solutions to societal challenges.
The University is celebrating these accomplishments and more during SDG Week Canada from March 4 to 8, featuring workshops, panels, and other interactive programming to increase awareness of and engagement with the 17 SDGs. Learn more about York’s progress on the UN SDGs by visiting York’s SDG Week website and following the University on social media.
