Humber Polytechnic’s Building Brilliance vision centres on Canada’s productivity crisis and our unique role in bridging the theoretical and practical to connect learning with application. Key to this approach is an effort to make education personalized and inclusive, and to build responsive relationships with industry and within our communities. 

FACULTY OF HEALTH & LIFE SCIENCES 

As you will have heard from President Vaughan at the President’s Breakfast, as part of the initiatives emerging from Building Brilliance, the Faculty of Health Sciences & Wellness has been renamed the Faculty of Health & Life Sciences.  

“Life Sciences” describes health programming related to the entire spectrum of life, from the molecular to the society level, and includes all aspects of health. The change in the Faculty name is building on the established foundation of academic excellence and industry relevance of existing programming and brings with it opportunities for expanded programming, further applied research and alignment with government priorities. I would like to thank the members of the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences for their engagement in choosing the new name.  

SCHOOL OF NURSING 

Along with the Faculty name renewal, we have established a School of Nursing.  

Recognizing the degree to which Ontario’s health care systems rest on the scale and capability of nursing support, it is critical that post-secondary education expand the capacity and scope of nursing education. The creation of the Humber School of Nursing aligns with accreditation recommendations and bolsters existing plans for program growth and expansion.  It also reflects the many years of exceptional nursing education that Humber has provided over the years. 

The new School will be led by Dr. Sandra Filice, who transitioned from her role as Associate Dean of Nursing & PSW to serve as the inaugural Dean, School of Nursing, effective August 25, 2025. 

Recruitment of a new Associate Dean will occur this Fall. 

Together, we are continuing to strengthen Humber’s position in the province, the country and internationally while building brilliance for our students and the health and life sciences sectors. 

Gina Antonacci 
Senior Vice-President, Academic  

Join our PhD Community of Practice!

Whether you’re just beginning your doctorate journey, midway through, or already completed, you’re warmly welcome to be part of our community.

We meet monthly to share ideas, build connections, and foster meaningful discussions—an opportunity to learn and grow together.

If you’re interested, please reach out to:

• Emma Smith, PhD, Associate Dean, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning at emma.smith@humber.ca
• Muge Abac, PhD, Program Manager, Labs4 at muge.abac@humber.ca

Welcome to the Fall 2025 semester! The following are highlights of faculty questions Innovative Learning received throughout the month of August. These are not necessarily the most frequently asked questions, but helpful for all faculty members as you prepare and kick off the term.  

Question: How do I setup the overall grade for my course? 

Answer: 

Complete the How to Setup the Overall Grade in the Gradebook module. Alternatively, the following are the specific steps to setup the overall grade. 

1. If you haven’t done anything in your Gradebook, at the bottom of the Gradebook you will see the Set it up option. The overall grade page will open up. 

1. Select the Overall Grade Calculation option. Please select Weighted. 

1. Read the instructions located at the top of the screen. These instructions describe the function of each symbol within the overall grade calculation. 

1. Please select how gradable items within the category should be distributed. By selecting proportionally, items are distributed based on their total points. For example, an item with 100 points will have twice the weight of an item with 50 points. Equally will ignore the total point and equally distribute weight for each item. 

1. If grading by category, input the correct weights of each category in their respective areas. Categories that are not being used can be exempted (grayed out row with a purple icon on the right as in the Homework category below). 

1. If grading by individual items, unlink them from their associated category. This can be done by selecting the dropdown of the category and selecting the unlink icon next to the item that needs to be separated. 

1. The item should now have a separate place to enter it’s individual weight. 

Note: The overall grade allows you to include both category and individual items in the calculation if desired. 

1. Once all the appropriate weights have been entered, there are additional settings to the right of the screen. Here, you can dictate whether you want overall grade calculated based on the total of points earned. 

Note: if these settings are not selected, the overall grade calculation will be a non-running total, and students are not able to view it. If you select Percentage, you can show the current running total in percentage. 

Question: I want to add myself to a course as an instructor. How do I do this? 

Answer: 

Instructors are added to live Blackboard courses by the Faculty Scheduler in Banner or Destiny One. Once they are added through Banner or Destiny One, access is immediate. Associate Deans can request the instructor be assigned through their faculty scheduler. Only faculty who are assigned teaching contracts can be assigned the “instructor” status in Blackboard. 

The Innovative Learning Support Centre can only add instructors to courses from a previous semester and only with approval from an Associate Dean for the purpose of accessing old course content. 

Question: How can I complete a course copy? 

Answer: 

If you are copying an entire course and putting all of it into another course, please follow these steps: 

1. Open the destination course – the course where you want to copy the content. 

2. Click on the three dots in the top-right corner. You will see a menu where you can click on Copy Items to go to the Copy Items Page. 

1. Find the course that needs to be copied from and select the checkbox next to it. 

2. On the right panel, click on “Start Copy” at the bottom. It may take some time to complete the copy process. 

Once this is complete, you will see all of the items in your new course. 

Please note: When copying a course, be sure to copy the entire course rather than just the content in the course. Copying only the content may result in styling and formatting issues as it may not automatically copy over items referenced by the selected item. 

Learn more about Copying a Blackboard Ultra course. 

Question: I'm teaching multiple sections of the same course. Can I combine or merge them? 

Answer: 

Yes, you can merge course sections together! When an instructor is assigned to multiple sections of the same course, it may be convenient for the instructor to merge the sections. The graphic below illustrates the idea of merging. In this example, an instructor has three sections of the same course. By requesting to merge three courses (Child course 1, Child course 2 and Child course 3), the courses will be as shown in the illustration. As a result, an empty parent course is created. The name of the parent course starts with XL, and we also call it an XL site. 

Once a merge is complete, the instructor will see the XL site in Blackboard. The instructor will no longer access the individual course sections (child courses). Students will continue to see the original name of the registered course section but will have access to the content of the XL site; the XL site will be created with no content. It is the instructor’s responsibility to add content to the newly-created XL site. Below are some pros and cons of merging course sections together: 

• PROS: No need to upload content in each section, and able to manage multiple sections of students in one Parent course (XL site). 

• CONS: Course enrollment from all sections/child courses are merged together into one; there is no indication in Blackboard as to which students belong to which section. (You can find this information in My Humber/Banner.) 

Question: How do I create groups in Blackboard? How do I grade group assignments? 

Answer: 

There are a few different kinds of groups available for you to create: 

1. Custom – You manually create groups and assign students to each group. 

2. Randomly assigned – Students are automatically assigned evenly to groups.  

3. Self-enrollment – This must be a visible group. Once created, it generates an announcement to notify students to sign up to a group. Students must self-enroll to a group to become part of it before a group assignment. 

4. Reuse groups – You can reuse an existing course group or group set you had previously created in your course.  

Learn more about grading group assignments. 

Question: How do I give a student an Accommodation, Exception, or an Exemption in Blackboard? 

Answer: 

• An Accommodation (learn more about Setting Up Accommodations) is course-wide and applies to due dates and time limits for all assessments in your course for a specific student. 

• An Exception (learn more about Granting Exceptions for Tests and Assignments) applies to a specific assessment for a specific student, where you can change the visibility dates, or the number of attempts for that student, to allow them to resubmit an assessment. (If the student already has the Accommodation that covers the Exception you want to apply, you do not need to set it again.) 

• An Exemption (learn more about Granting Exemptions for Tests and Assignments) applies to a specific student to be exempted from a specific assessment, meaning they will not need to complete the specific assessment. 

If you need further support, please contact the Innovative Learning Support Centre. We are here to help! 

As President Vaughan mentioned at the President’s Breakfast, after extensive research, consultation and cross-functional collaboration, the Digital Fluency Framework (DFF) and Action Plan are now available at www.humber.ca/digitalfluency.

The DFF was developed by the Humber community to empower us to grow professionally, work more effectively, and lead with confidence in a digitally driven environment. We will do this through practical tools, training, and support that will advance strategic growth and innovation.

The Digital Fluency Framework describes the digital fluency indicators and levels for all members of the Humber community. The indicators are overarching concepts that create digital fluency across Humber and include the ability to:

• Use digital tools and spaces ethically and appropriately
• Adapt to a variety of circumstances and technologies
• Engage with information in digital spaces
• Respond to technical issues and solve problems in real time

Three key levels of growth for digital fluency have been adapted for Humber. They are:

• Leader
• Proficient
• Competent

Humber teams will apply the Digital Fluency Framework to their context, and all Humber employees will also have access to training to enhance their abilities through LEARN on the Human Resource Management System (HRMS). 

The framework also gives us a shared understanding of what digital fluency is and the skills that go along with it now and into the future. It will enable us to better support our students and partners as digital experts as well.  

We also want to express our gratitude to the Humber community members who were involved in the DFF development process. It was a collective endeavour of consultations, environmental scans, and piloting to co-create the framework. It directly supports the Builders of Brilliance “Reimaging Learning” pillar as we support the Humber learning environment and continue to build skills that support our students and the future of work.  

Find out more and explore the resources, training, and support at www.humber.ca/digitalfluency.

The DFF is an investment in our people, and we hope you are inspired and continue to build brilliance with it.

Vera Beletzan
Associate Vice-President, Teaching and Learning

The Builders of Brilliance Teaching and Learning Innovation Fund is a new initiative that puts Humber’s commitment to Reimagining Learning into practice by supporting projects that help define the future of education.

 As part of our strategic vision, Building Brilliance, the first pillar – Reimagining Learning – invites us to move beyond a one-size-fits-all model toward more personalized human-centred learning, leveraging technology. This annual fund is a significant investment in making that vision a reality.   

Humber is a leader in teaching and learning innovation. From the integration of AI in education to simulation-based learning and the use of escape rooms as teaching tools, we’ve seen remarkable ingenuity from the Humber community. This fund will help take that momentum even further. It’s about empowering faculty, staff and students to build something new together and shape the future of higher education. 

Below are some thought starters to help inspire your proposal:

• Personalization – Personalizing the learning journey to meet individual student needs and interests.
• Employability – Fostering lifelong learning and skills that support students’ career adaptability and success.
• Redefining Play-Based Learning – Exploring innovative, experiential, or playful learning strategies that deepen engagement.
• Student-Centred Learning – Designing learning environments and practices that prioritize student well-being, inclusion, and voice.
• Leveraging Technology – Using technology to enhance learning, accessibility, and collaboration in meaningful ways.
• Transforming Learning Spaces – Reimagining physical or virtual learning environments to support dynamic and inclusive learning.
• Credit Recognition – Exploring ways to formally recognize student learning through credit-bearing activities, micro-credentials, or skill-based outcomes.

Interested in applying for the Builders of Brilliance Teaching and Learning Innovation Fund?

• Visit the Builders of Brilliance Teaching and Learning Innovation Fund website to learn more and to access the application.
• Register and join one of our upcoming drop-in sessions to ask questions and explore the application process.

The call for proposals closes on October 5, 2025. Apply today!

Food Services Closure – Monday, September 1 (Labour Day):

• All Food Services locations will be closed on Monday, September 1 for the Labour Day long weekend.

Residence Dining Long Weekend Hours (North & Lakeshore):

• Saturday (August 30) and Sunday (August 31): 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
• Monday (September 1): 9 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Fall Regular Hours Effective September 2, 2025

Black Student Support & Engagement is thrilled to announce the launch of the Black Futures Mentorship Program, a transformative initiative aimed at fostering the growth and development of our Black students through meaningful mentorship. Your participation in the Black Futures Mentorship Program is not just an opportunity to give back; it is a chance to make a profound impact on the lives of our students, helping them to realize their full potential and build meaningful connections and networks. 

Why join? As a mentor, you will: 

• Empower Students: Provide guidance, support, and inspiration to our Black students as they navigate their academic and professional journeys. 
• Foster Growth: Share your expertise and experiences to help shape the future leaders within our community. 
• Cultivate Connections: Build lasting relationships and network with other mentors committed to making a difference. 

Who can be a mentor? We are seeking passionate and dedicated Black identifying faculty and staff members who: 

• Have a genuine interest in mentoring and supporting Black students. 
• Are committed to promoting diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging within programs, faculties and beyond.
• A willingness to dedicate time and effort to mentor Black students on a regular basis. 

Program details: 

• Workshops: Workshops sessions will be provided to equip Mentors with the necessary skills and knowledge. (i.e. EDIB workshops, know your rights within the work place, strategic networking and facilitating rapport, Goal Setting, etc.) 
• Time commitment: Flexible mentoring schedules to accommodate your availability. 
• Support: Continuous support from the Black Student Support & Engagement Program Coordinators to ensure a successful mentoring experience. 

We look forward to having you join us in this important and rewarding initiative. Together, we can make a difference and shape a brighter future for our students. 

If you are interested in becoming a mentor or would like more information about the program, please register now.

If you have any questions, please reach out to jack.lewis@humber.ca.

Dr. Vaughan reflects on Building Brilliance and the 2025 President's Breakfast in her latest AMViews blog.

Congratulations to all our employees celebrating Career Milestones in August!

The following employees are celebrating their 1, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 40-year anniversary with Humber. We encourage you to reach out to your colleagues to congratulate them on their Career Milestones.

Although we do our best to ensure we don't miss anyone, sometimes it happens. If we have missed anyone on this list, our sincere apologies. Please let us know so we can correct our records and ensure the employee receives recognition.

Questions? Please email us at oe@humber.ca.

Hello, fellow Humberites!

Welcome back to the Fall 2025 semester. There is an exciting initiative underway to promote and support Humber's efforts with an international event to celebrate academic integrity. We are looking for students who are willing to share their ideas and help us plan events on Wednesday, October 15 across our four sites (North, Lakeshore, Carrier Drive, and Downtown). Please encourage your students to consider this effort. For more information, they can contact Jennie Miron at jennie.miron@humber.ca. If you are interested in more information about this international event, please visit the International Centre for Academic Integrity website.

If you are faculty or staff and would like to be part of this fun and interesting initiative here at Humber, you may also contact Jennie to let her know. Your help, ideas, and enthusiasm are always appreciated and welcome.