At Day of Reflection on April 29, President Sean Kennedy honoured the first recipients of the President’s Award for Innovation in Student Learning and Success – five innovations by 15 exceptional innovators!
“There has been great innovation happening at Niagara College and it’s important to both celebrate and nurture it,” said President Sean Kennedy. “Congratulations to this terrific inaugural group of winners. You’re an inspiration to all of us and you make our College better.”
The Award celebrates the outstanding efforts of NC employees and the innovative spirit of the NC community. It recognizes individuals and teams at NC who have made an impact on student engagement, learning, or success in remarkable ways by innovating aspects of their work or by creating new opportunities.
“We were all blown away by the ingenuity and dedication of our NC community,” said Natasha Patrito Hannon, Director, Teaching and Learning Innovation with the Centre for Academic Excellence.
These innovations support NC priorities. Among them, applied learning, inclusion, community impact, sustainability, accessibility, and the whole student.
Nominations were adjudicated by a committee of ten members of the NC community, which included members of faculty, staff, administration, and the Niagara College Student Administrative Council.
The recipients – and their made-at-NC innovations – are as follows:
Innovators: Susan Paone and Lisa Maurice, professors in the School of Hospitality, Tourism and Sport
Innovation: Virtual Innovation in Esthetician Retailing
Faced with pandemic restrictions, Susan and Lisa created an impactful experiential learning opportunity to prepare Esthetician program students for the new, digital era in the spa industry. Students worked with spa supplier, TheraGenesis, to develop digital content for their web and social media platforms. Through this experience, students received mentorship from their teachers and industry experts, and developed skills in branding, social media, video and image capture, and digital communication. The impact? Transforming their student’s communication skills.
“Innovation is important to our program and the College because it creates an environment that encourages critical thinking and flexibility. Innovation really helps the students and the College develop stronger relationships with industry partners and the community. Innovation pushes the boundaries and encourages out of the box thinking for both the students and us as faculty.” – Susan Paone
Innovator: Shauna Gupta, professor in the School of English Language
Innovation: Lightboard (Full story to come)
Shauna recognized the opportunity to improve online student engagement through a lightboard, a transparent whiteboard made of glass with internal lighting to make writing glow. Shauna created the set-up in her home from materials purchased from the hardware store. Teaching her English for Academic Preparation courses on lightboard gave Shauna an opportunity to teach as though she was in class, simulating the classroom environment. A lightboard is to online, hybrid and technology-enhanced courses as whiteboards, projectors and document cameras are to face-to-face classroom courses. This innovative setup was highly conducive to creating a natural link with her students, inviting them to join her in the learning process in a fun and engaging way.
“During the pandemic, especially at the beginning, I was really missing being in the classroom… As I started to experiment with setting up the lightboard, I found a way to reconnect with the ‘teacher’ inside of me! My students really loved the classes I delivered with the lightboard because it was dynamic, innovative and a fresh, new idea! It is wonderful that Niagara College has recognized this highly innovative Ed Tech tool.” – Shauna Gupta
Innovators: Cammie Jaquays and Melanie Sodka, professors in the School of Business and Management Studies
Innovation: Entrepreneurial and Experiential – New realms of discovery
Over the past few years, Melanie and Cammie have worked together to create a strategy to expand entrepreneurial experiential learning. The strategy focuses on five key initiatives. One of them being the NC $5 Challenge in which student teams create a venture beginning with only $5 in seed money. Their innovative initiatives have helped students develop new ventures, created an entrepreneurial classroom spirit, and engaged the NC community and the Niagara business and not-for-profit community.
“Our strength lies in creating a participatory and unique strategy that aligns with the NC Strategic direction of being experientially focused and creative, innovative entrepreneurial thinking. The President’s Award is an honour and a delight, that reflects the truly collaborative and dynamic environment we all work in.“ – Cammie Jaquays
“Entrepreneurship continues to evolve as the leading occupation choice for our college’s largest demographic. Being able to facilitate this learning while supporting students on their start-up journeys, is a true honour. Staying relevant in one of the fastest growing drivers of our economy is not only important but imperative to ensure that NC remains competitive as the institution of choice for students wishing to explore their own business ventures. Along with my colleagues, we continue to build on the strong foundation of entrepreneurial spirit that is already thriving at the college through numerous programs and opportunities.” – Melanie Sodka
Innovators: Lindsay Taylor, student, Taryn Wilkinson, Office of Sustainability, Amber Schmucker, Office of Sustainability
Innovation: Sustainability Ambassador Program
The Sustainability Ambassador program empowers NC students to identify and execute their own sustainability-focused projects with mentorship from peers and college staff. This initiative, led by student, Lindsay Taylor, and supported by Sustainability team members, Taryn Wilkinson and Amber Schmuker, highlights the incredible opportunities that come from listening deeply to NC students, establishing a supportive community, and affording students the opportunity to create and lead. The goal of the NC Sustainability Ambassador Program is to provide students from a variety of academic backgrounds with the sustainability knowledge and tools to be leaders today and for years to come.
“As a passionate environmentalist and community organizer, the Sustainability Ambassador Program is an essential bridge for students to cross their ideas from the classroom to on-campus and in-community action. NC Sustainability Ambassadors are already being recognized by our neighbors as being creative, solution-oriented, and genuine in their approach. This innovation has the potential to grow and blossom into a cross-functional inter-disciplinary program that activates sustainability at both Niagara College campuses. From work-integrated learning & leadership roles, the opportunities abound for NC students to ask themselves: What does sustainability mean to me? & How will I translate my values into action for my community?” – Lindsay Taylor
Innovators: Angela Hayes, Lindsay Milligan, Cathy Teixeira, Kelly Wilcox, Drew Kean, Jodi-Lynn Noble, and Wendy Coxon, staff and faculty from the Early Childhood Education program.
Innovation: NC Virtual Preschool
To support experiential learning for Early Childhood Education students through the pandemic, the ECE team developed a ‘virtual preschool’ where students developed lesson plans and recorded activities that were shared with the community through a public-facing website. While providing a crucial learning experience for NC students, these activities became a lifeline for many parents and caregivers in our community who were without in-person daycare or kindergarten through much of the pandemic.
“Innovation is important to our work as we are forming the lenses of young educators who are working with children. As professors in the ECE program at NC, we teach our students that Early Childhood Educators are lifelong learners who can face challenges, problem solve and take risks in meeting the needs of the children and families in their communities. Innovation provides new opportunities for educators and learners to be curious and investigate new ways to build and apply our knowledge and skills. It allows us to move out of our comfort zone and explore new territory to share with others. We take the responsibility of modelling this to our students.” – Angela Hayes
Screenshot from Day of Reflection. President Sean Kennedy introduced the award and congratulated the inaugural recipients.
Award recipients will attend a celebratory lunch and have their names and innovations displayed on a plaque on an award wall on campus. They will receive $1,000 in funding to advance their initiatives, and they will share their innovation and best practices with the NC community in the months ahead.
A round of applause for the 2022 NC Innovators!
