Past Faculty Events & Workshops
Recordings of CCP events can be found in our Faculty CEL Resource Site. Recordings of these past events are available to U of T faculty who request access to our Faculty CEL Resource Site by contacting Rebs Lee, Programs Administrator.
Our peer-led Community of Practice Gatherings offer community-engaged learning (CEL) instructors a recurring conversation space to share best practices, troubleshoot, discuss relevant literature, and collaborate on CEL teaching-related issues. Each gathering is facilitated by a different faculty member, who shares a challenge, a case study, an article or other resource to catalyze discussion.
Disrupting the Grade
Facilitated by Rubén Gaztambide-Fernández, Professor, Curriculum, Teaching and Learning, OISE and Michael Classens, Assistant Professor, School of the Environment, this discussion in March 2024 focused on the the tensions and complexities of grading in community-engaged learning courses.
Assessing Reflective Writing in Community-Engaged Learning Courses
Facilitated by Katherine Entigar, Assistant Professor of Critical Adult Education in the Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education, OISE, this discussion in January 2024 focused on the questions: What challenges does reflective writing present for both students and course instructors? How can reflective writing be successfully scaffolded? What are some successful strategies you use to effectively assess students’ reflective writing in your CEL courses?
View the recording of Assessing Reflective Writing in Community-Engaged Learning Courses
Addressing Power/Privilege in CEL Through Anti-Racist and Anti-Colonial Approaches
Drawing on her experiences teaching ethnography in an Inside-Out prison classroom and co-producing media projects with residents in Regent Park, Aditi Mehta, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Urban Studies, lead a conversation in March 2023 on power and privilege in CEL. She also shared how she creates assignments and facilitates dialogues to help students become aware of their own and others’ positionality.
View the recording of Addressing Power/Privilege in CEL Through Anti-Racist and Anti-Colonial Approaches
Equitable Community Partnerships When Working With and For Black Communities
Facilitated by Notisha Massaquoi, Assistant Professor, Department of Health and Society, UTSC, this discussion in February 2023 was grounded around Professor Massaquoi’s statement, “An effective Black community partnership involves holding ourselves accountable to Black communities, immersing ourselves in understanding systemic anti-Black racism and committing ourselves to the survival and wellbeing of Black people. These are the activities that will build partnerships that will be the most successful in work with and for Black communities.”
View the recording of Equitable Community Partnerships When Working With and For Black Communities
How to Teach a CEL Course Sustainably
Facilitated by Franco Taverna, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Human Biology in October 2022, this discussion focused on making the systems and processes of a CEL course, including the teaching and design of the placement, efficient, attractive and sustainable for partners and instructors alike.
View the recording of How to Teach a CEL Course Sustainably
Pedagogies of Care and Respect in CEL
Facilitated by Jill Carter, Assistant Professor, Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies, Transitional Year Programme & Indigenous Studies, this conversation in January 2022 focused on pedagogies of care and respect in community-engaged learning
No recording available
The Faculty & Community Co-Educational model: A Tool for Reciprocity in CEL
In October 2021, Fok-Han Leung, Associate Professor, Director, Integrated Clinical Experience (Health in Community), Department of Family and Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Duberlis Ramos, Executive Director, Hispanic Development Council introduced the community and faculty co-educator model used in the Health in Community course. This model, rooted in Tania D. Mitchell’s work on Critical Service-Learning theory, aims to create more reciprocal partnerships and enable students to benefit from the expertise of community partners.
No recording available
Opportunities for faculty across the university to learn and discuss anti-oppressive approaches to community-engaged learning and research (CEL/R)
Making the Work Visible: CEL in the Teaching Stream
Moderated by Heather Hermant, Centre for Community Partnerships, with panelists Ahmed Allahwala, Professor, Teaching Stream, Department of Human Geography, City Studies Program, University of Toronto Scarborough; Michelle Arnot, Associate Chair, Undergraduate Education and Professor, Teaching Stream, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Temerty Faculty of Medicine; Rubén Gaztambide-Fernandez, Professor, Chair, Department of Social Justice Education, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education and David Roberts, Director, Urban Studies Program, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Department of Geography and Planning.
This February 2025 roundtable brought together seasoned CEL instructors to share strategies for making the vital work of CEL visible. How might instructors articulate the extent and value of the relational and logistical work, and the innovation it takes to deliver CEL courses? How can instructors best capture the impacts of their pedagogy on students, community partners and their academic disciplines? What practices can instructors adopt to document and communicate these impacts effectively?
View the recording of Making the Work Visible: CEL in the Teaching Stream
Community Places as Classroom Spaces: Reflecting, Disrupting, Re-Imagining
Moderated by Jennifer Esmail, Centre for Community Partnerships with panelists Aditi Mehta, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Urban Studies Program; Maggie Hutcheson, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Faculty of Information; Maria Assif, Professor, Teaching Stream, English, UTSC; and Reid Locklin, Associate Professor, Department for the Study of Religion, St. Michael’s College
In October 2024, this group of seasoned community-engaged professors considered the questions: What are the implications of envisioning community places as spaces of student learning? What does imagining community as classroom enable, and what tensions emerge? How might community-based approaches to teaching and learning disrupt–or reify–inequities? If best practice dictates that widely varying models of community-engaged learning (CEL) aspire to “reciprocity” with community-based co-educators and co-learners, how might we move the dial from transactional to transformational engagement, at individual, collective and systemic levels?
View the recording of Community Places as Classroom Spaces: Reflecting, Disrupting, Re-Imagining.
What Your Community Partners Want You to Know
March 2024:
Moderated by Ewa Cerda-Llanos, Centre for Community Partnerships with panelists Alex Dow, United Way Greater Toronto; Sahar Ghafouri, North York Harvest Food Bank; and Sahar Vermezyari, East Scarborough Storefront.
View the recording of What Your Community Partners Want You to Know.View the recording of Community Places as Classroom Spaces: Reflecting, Disrupting, Re-Imagining.
April 2023: Respectful and Reciprocal Partnerships with Indigenous Community Organizations
Moderated by Jennifer Esmail, Centre for Community Partnerships with panelists Jill Carter, Associate Professor, Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies, Transitional Year Programme & Indigenous Studies; Olivia Franks, Researcher, Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres (OFIFC); Tee Duke, Director, Indigenous Initiatives, Office of Indigenous Initiatives, UTM and Emma Stromberg, Indigenous Partnerships Advisor, Faculty of Arts and Science.
View the recording of Respectful and Reciprocal Partnerships with Indigenous Community Organizations.
February 2023: Fostering Anti-oppressive Approaches to Community Engaged Research & Learning in the Academy with the Centre for Research & Innovation Support (CRIS)
Moderated by Ahmed Allahwala, Professor, Teaching Stream, Department of Human Geography, University of Toronto Scarborough with panelists Negin Dahya, Assistant Professor, Institute of Communication, Culture, Information and Technology, UTM; Rubén Gaztambide-Fernandez, Professor, Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning, OISE; and Notisha Massaquoi, Assistant Professor, Department of Health and Society, UTSC.
View the recording of Fostering Anti-oppressive Approaches to Community Engaged Research & Learning in the Academy in the CRIS video library.
September 2022: Co-Designing with Community Partners
With panelists Ahmed Allahwala, Professor, Teaching Stream, Department of Human Geography; Gabriel Eidelman, Assistant Professor, Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy; Aditi Mehta, Assistant Professor, Urban Studies Program; Howard Moriah, Director of Operations, Boys and Girls Club, East Scarborough; Trisha Scantlebury, Senior Manager, Research, Public Policy and Evaluation, United Way Greater Toronto; and Franco Taverna, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Human Biology.
View the recording of Co-Designing with Community Partners.
March 2022: CEL in Pandemic Contexts: What Have We Learned So Far?
With panelists Susannah Bunce, Associate Professor, Department of Human Geography, UTSC; Sherry Fukuzawa, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Anthropology, UTM; Aditi Mehta, Assistant Professor, Urban Studies; Franco Taverna, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Human Biology Program; and Sam Tecle, Assistant Professor, Community Engaged Learning, New College.
View the recording of CEL in Pandemic Contexts: What Have We Learned So Far?
November 2021: Co-creating Knowledges: Equitable Practices across Community-Engaged Learning and Research with the Centre for Research & Innovation Support (CRIS)
With panelists Ahmed Allahwala, Professor, Teaching Stream, Department of Human Geography, UTSC; Elspeth Brown, Interim Associate Vice Principal Research & Professor, Department of Historical Studies, UTM; Susan Hill, Associate Professor, Department of History, Faculty of Arts & Science and Director for the Centre of Indigenous Studies; and Carmen Logie, Professor and Canada Research Chair, Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work
View the recording of Co-creating Knowledges: Equitable Practices across Community-Engaged Learning and Research in the CRIS video library.
Other opportunities to explore community-engaged learning (CEL) pedagogies and practices in partnership with other university research and teaching support offices
March 2025: Community-Engaged Research Faculty Discussion Club Series: The Dance of Art and Understanding: Theatre methodologies in community-focused research in partnership with the Centre for Research & Innovation Support (CRIS)
View the recording of The Dance of Art and Understanding: Theatre methodologies in community-focused research in the CRIS video library.
November 2024: Community-Engaged Research Faculty Discussion Club Series: Meaningfully Engaging Peer Researchers in partnership with the Centre for Research & Innovation Support (CRIS)
April 2024: Community-Engaged Research Faculty Discussion Club Series Session 4: Sustaining & Growing the Relationship in Community-Engaged Research: Opportunities & Pitfalls in partnership with the Centre for Research & Innovation Support (CRIS)
View the recording of Sustaining & Growing the Relationship in Community-Engaged Research: Opportunities & Pitfalls in the CRIS video library.
February 2024: Community-Engaged Research Faculty Discussion Club Series Session 3: Formalizing the Relationship in Community-Engaged Research: Key Relationship Building Activities & Challenges in partnership with the Centre for Research & Innovation Support (CRIS)
November 2023: Community-Engaged Research Faculty Discussion Club Series Session 2: Initiating & Nurturing — How Does a Community-Engaged Research (CER) Initiative Begin? in partnership with the Centre for Research & Innovation Support (CRIS)
View the recording of Initiating & Nurturing — How Does a Community-Engaged Research (CER) Initiative Begin? in the CRIS video library.
October 2023: Community-Engaged Research Faculty Discussion Club Series: Session 1: Foundations in Community-Engaged Research in partnership with the Centre for Research & Innovation Support (CRIS)
View the recording of Foundations in Community-Engaged Research in the CRIS video library.
September 2023: Equity Roundtable: Community Engaged Learning: Power Dynamics Working with Community Partners in partnership with the Centre for Teaching Support and Innovation (CTSI)
November 2022: Introduction to Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL): Finding a Starting Point in partnership with the Centre for Teaching Support and Innovation (CTSI)
February 2022: Publishing Scholarship on Your Community-Engaged Learning Course in partnership with the Centre for Teaching Support and Innovation (CTSI)
November 2021: Critical Community-Engaged Learning Reading Group: Talking About Service-Learning: Product or Process? Reciprocity or Solidarity? by Joan Clifford
Offered annually, these participatory workshops cover the fundamentals of CEL pedagogy and practice while providing practical strategies for designing and running a CEL course. Subscribe to our faculty newsletter to learn about upcoming workshops.
To request a workshop for your unit, please email us.
Course Development Workshop 1: The Fundamentals of CEL
In this workshop, best suited to instructors who are new to CEL, we focus on the fundamentals of community-engaged learning (CEL) pedagogy and practice. The workshop will:
- introduce you to what CEL is and how it is defined, why you might want to use a CEL pedagogy, and some models and examples for CEL courses;
- give you space and time to think through some foundational questions as you begin designing your own CEL course.
Course Development Workshop 2: Designing a Successful CEL Course
In this second workshop we focus on the three ‘Ps’ of CEL course development: pedagogy, partnerships and student preparation. Focusing on the three ‘Ps’, the workshop will:
- provide you with some practical strategies for designing and running a CEL course
- provide you space and time to work on a syllabus you are designing or redesigning for a CEL course you are creating.
Course Development Workshop 3: Respectful and Reciprocal Community Partner Stewardship
In this third workshop we focus on working respectively and equitably with partners from community, grassroots, nonprofit, or public organizations. The workshop will provide you with practical strategies for, and some space and time to reflect on, stewarding partnerships in respectful and reciprocal ways.