UNews - AGILITY

Graduate student entrepreneurs earn development support through Innovation Catalyst Grants

trevor.kenney — Wed, 22 May 2024 19:02:56 +0000

Two exciting projects have received support from a provincial grant program that provides a two-year runway for entrepreneurs to develop and commercialize innovative, science-based products and services.

Greg McGillis and Mojtaba Nazariahangarkolaee (MSc ’18) have earned Innovation Catalyst Grants (ICG) worth $250,000 for work they are doing at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, supported by Agility, the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ’s comprehensive idea and incubation shop that fosters bold ideas and helps students put them into action.

“The whole focus of the grant is to help bring research to market, and to help stimulate the economy and create jobs,” says Dr. Luc Roberts (BSc ’12, PhD ’23), entrepreneurial strategist for the Teaching Centre and Agility. “This grant, in particular, is quite helpful because it offers both a stipend for the person doing the work as well as seed money for business expenses.”

Roberts knows well the benefits of the program as he was a recipient of similar funding when the ICG was known as GreenSTEM and supported the launch of Allos Bioscience, a start-up he initiated with fellow ULethbridge alumnus Harland Brandon (BSc ’13, PhD ’21). While GreenSTEM was focused on green energy and emissions reduction, the ICG is much broader and simply encourages innovation with a hardware component.

“If you have a solid business idea, this program gives you the opportunity to take a good run at it, because for two years you can go after it full time,” adds Roberts. “You’re being paid, the bills are being paid and you can devote all your time to your idea.”

Greg McGillis

McGillis and Nazariahangarkolaee join ICG recipients who received funding this cycle from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Alberta and ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Calgary. The program selects projects annually from each of the province’s three comprehensive universities. Brent Puchalski (Paramoria Agri-Science) and Tyler Bennett (Coagtech Ltd.) were funded at ULethbridge last year.

“Each year is a new cohort and you’re all part of a pan-Alberta cohort of applicants from the other universities,” says Roberts, noting eligible applicants are recent graduates of a master’s or PhD program. “Because you are recent grads, most don’t have a lot of business experience, so to have access to all these business resources the program provides is huge.”

McGillis, whose Brain Care Technologies start-up recently finished second in Agility’s Launch Point Pitch Competition, is looking to revolutionize the process of detecting dementia in people and paving the way for earlier interventions to enhance quality of life and even delay the onset of the condition.

“The ICG significantly supports the achievement of our mission — empowering individuals to improve their cognitive health through early detection and monitoring of dementia so they can age well,” says McGillis, who is developing a headgear device patients would wear for testing brain activity. “This award expedites the hiring of additional staff, expansion of our collaboration with stakeholders and partners, and advancement of the development of our intellectual property to enable us to fulfill our commercialization objectives."

Mojtaba Nazariahangarkolaee

Nazariahangarkolaee’s Synaptag Technology Inc. is focused on improving RFID (radio frequency identification) solutions for animal tracking that can be used both in a lab setting with small animals such as mice and rats, or on a large scale in agricultural applications.

Nazariahangarkolaee says ICG funding will enable his group to expand its team with highly skilled talent and invest in essential hardware and equipment to fully realize the potential of their technology.

“The ICG program has additionally facilitated our access to two technical and business mentors, whose distinct perspectives and expertise will greatly support us throughout our entrepreneurial journey,” he adds. “Moreover, ICG offers quarterly and annual networking events which are an ideal opportunity for us to gain valuable connections, access resources and knowledge, validate our ideas and build our brand.”

The next deadline for applications to the ICG program as Sept. 15, 2024, and more information can be found on the Agility web page.

ReSET on-campus resource a repository of innovative and effective teaching methods for all to access

trevor.kenney — Mon, 22 Apr 2024 16:27:24 +0000

What began as a working group focused on effective teaching methods during the pandemic has become an innovative resource to building a more inclusive post-secondary environment — and it’s open to teachers in all sectors of education.

ReSET (Resources to Support Excellence in Teaching), a collaborative effort to support excellence in teaching on campus, is a first-of-its-kind initiative led by academic staff and supported by the Teaching Centre at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge.

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, many businesses and public institutions were faced with restrictions to in-person gathering. ULethbridge was no exception. Academic course delivery pivoted to online instruction with an uncertain timeline as to when in-person classes could resume.

Specific focus was placed on teaching, particularly around accommodations, inclusivity and flexibility, explains Dr. Sheila McManus, history professor in the Department of History and Religion. Faced with these challenges, a taskforce of ULethbridge educators came together in 2020 to brainstorm ways to provide quality learning instruction in a blended environment. The initial goal was to create a plan for the Fall 2021 semester. Driven by the creativity they witnessed across the institution, the group agreed to continue the momentum.

"We wanted to seize the moment of heightened attention to teaching and create a baseline for excellence on campus," says McManus. “We all agreed to continue working to build something transformative for our colleagues, inspired by the excellence, innovation and inclusivity we had witnessed during the worst of the pandemic.”

David Hinger (BFA - Multimedia '03; MEd ’07), Executive Director of the Teaching Centre and Agility, says the original goal of the project was to highlight innovative teaching practices that were adopted during the pandemic.

“The ReSET project has become so much more under the leadership of Dr. McManus and the working group.”

What has emerged is a three-part project — defining the five features of excellence in teaching, sharing research to support these five characteristics, and an in-house repository of teaching resources. McManus says the ReSET project is unique to ULethbridge as it creates a shared baseline of language around teaching excellence and provides an open-access repository for academic staff professional development both internally and beyond.

“For a long time, there's been this notion that it’s harder to specify what excellence in teaching looks like. That's not true. We know what excellence in teaching looks like. It's actually very easy to define. So, we hammered out easy, accessible language for our colleagues,” says McManus.

The five features of excellence delve into the importance of caring about students and their success, inclusivity, adaptivity, and creating engaging learning environments and effective assessments. Each feature is supported by a research and resource list with suggested readings and videos.

The repository is a way to discover methods of “extraordinary teaching happening on this campus,” says McManus, and is searchable by various features. “If you want inspiration and ideas around assessments, course outlines or in-class activities, or if you’re new to teaching, or just want to see what your colleagues on campus are doing, we’re slowly building this repository of knowledge to draw from.”

Submissions to the in-house repository are being encouraged from ULethbridge academic staff to grow the resource base. Everything shared is protected under a Creative Commons licence as part of Opus.

“Whether it's a course outline, a really neat assignment that you did in class, or maybe it's a conference paper that you gave about your teaching, we're widely encouraging submissions from people,” says McManus. “Anything to do with excellence in teaching on this campus, if they’re willing to share.”

The nature of teaching can often be isolating, explains Hinger, so having an opportunity to share resources with like-minded peers can broaden the perspectives of educators and contribute to more successful outcomes for students.

“We don't typically spend a lot of time sharing with our colleagues what we're doing in our classrooms. This is an opportunity to share, which is really exciting,” he says. “It highlights for me the culture we have on campus as well, and that academic staff here are passionate about our students and passionate about teaching excellence.”

ReSET will be featured during two panels at the SPARK Teaching Symposium on April 24, 2024. At 11:45 a.m., members of the ReSET team will assist anyone wanting to upload their material to the repository. At 2:45 p.m., selected resources for first-year classes shared to the repository will be featured as part of a panel on teaching for retention.

New funding to offer cash for coursework while benefitting businesses

trevor.kenney — Thu, 02 Dec 2021 17:37:37 +0000

Over 500 ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge students could receive cash for their coursework through two initiatives supporting work experience and benefitting local businesses. The programs, led by the Dhillon School of Business and the Agility Program and funded in part by the Government of Canada’s Innovative Work-Integrated Learning program and CEWIL Canada's iHub, will see $498,600 go directly into the pockets of students.

The Co-operative Education and Work Integrated Learning Canada (CEWIL) funding will pay students to solve problems for community organizations through a Service Learning Program as well as an applied and independent study cohort program.

The programs are funded in part by the Government of Canada’s Innovative Work-Integrated Learning program and CEWIL Canada's iHub.

Service Learning

Through service learning, faculty members across the U of L will partner with local businesses to incorporate industry-related problems into their curriculum. Currently, students discuss and solve written cases that real-life business executives have historically faced or work on theoretical assignments. Instead of working on static or hypothetical cases, the Service Learning Program will link 420 students with local companies and community partners to complete group projects, capstone projects and applied research that directly impacts those businesses. Each student will be compensated $600 for their work as they learn about the holistic operations of businesses, gain valuable work experience and connect theory to practical application.

Director of DSB Link, the Dhillon School of Business’ business development and experiential learning initiative, Matt Rahimi, is one of the leads on the CEWIL projects.

“Leveraging iHub funding provides students with opportunities to apply their academic knowledge to serve the needs of our community partners, as well as providing them with opportunities to learn about the business requirements in different industries and different jurisdictions,” says Rahimi.

Applied and Independent Study

Through applied and independent study, 137 students will gain direct access to experiential learning through the Dhillon School of Business’ new Applied Consulting Course (MGT 4901), Agility’s new Applied/Independent Studies cohorts, or through Building Careers: Engaging in Communities, a new course focused on developing skills and career goals for social science/humanities majors.

MGT 4901 (for Dhillon students only) kicked off in September and is a semester-long course that pairs consulting instruction with a local company project.

Agility’s applied and independent study offerings will be made through iHub cohorts, which include numerous unique, immersive learning experiences. Guided by their career aspirations, students collaborate with businesses under the supervision of a faculty advisor to solve problems for the organization or design their own course with an initiative. Each project focusses on entrepreneurship, social innovation, digital marketing/technology, financial literacy, STEM or applied research. Students complete a total of 120 hours of work with a company, helping each business establish a strong foundation of entrepreneurial thinking and innovation tactics.

“Programs like iHub encourage our students to get out of the classroom and learn by doing,” says Manager of Agility, Brandy Old. “Our cohort model helps our students learn to take risks in a safe environment, while also supporting core community initiatives that build a stronger southern Alberta.”

Both the Dhillon School of Business’ and Agility’s applied and independent study options put $1,800 into the pocket of each participant, which covers the cost of the course as well as a living wage for their work. Some of the hours of work will also be compensated through targeted skill workshops and other free professional development opportunities offered by partner companies.

"CEWIL Canada is pleased to support innovative WIL experiences for students at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge where students have been able to receive financial support and recognition for their WIL experience,” says Charlene Marion, director of WIL at CEWIL Canada. “Funds such as these aim to eliminate barriers to WIL and increase access for all post-secondary students."

Access to experiential learning and community engagement for underrepresented groups is also an important component of the programs. The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ is aiming to have 10.5 per cent of the placements (as reflected by the student population) filled by under-represented students, including Indigenous students, students who have requested accommodation for disabilities, women in STEM and students who are newcomers to Canada or from rural and remote areas.

U of L students solve real-world problems through work-integrated learning

caroline.zentner — Tue, 23 Mar 2021 19:51:35 +0000

Seniors in Lethbridge isolated due to the COVID-19 pandemic will soon have the chance to make their own history, thanks to an innovative project by ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge students.

The Pieces of the Past project, which pairs Volunteer Lethbridge volunteers with isolated seniors, will allow seniors to reflect on positive memories through a series of questions. Volunteers will ask seniors to share a favourite childhood memory, a memorable vacation, what they hope for their grandchildren and what they are most looking forward to after the pandemic, for example. Their responses will be printed into a booklet by Volunteer Lethbridge as a keepsake for the senior and their family. Pieces of the Past is currently in the pilot stage.

Allyssa Acojedo and her teammates created the Pieces of the Past project to help isolated seniors. Acojedo has spent the past semester taking the project from concept to pilot program.

The project grew out of a hackathon created by the U of L’s Agility program for students in Dr. Chris Churchill’s Liberal Education class called Early Career Success. In this experiential learning model, teams of students were matched with community organizations to help them tackle an issue they were facing because of the pandemic. One group worked with a small business to help them reach younger customers during the pandemic while another worked to increase the profile of Lethbridge as a destination for employees. At the end of the semester, students presented their ideas to a panel of judges.

“A class like this really helps students realize how their liberal education applies to the real world,” says Churchill. “All the teams did terrifically and the panel chose Pieces of the Past as the winner.”

The challenge the winning team of Allyssa Acojedo, Camila Dias, Krystal Goltz and Dshamilja Egli faced was to create a way to help seniors who were struggling because of the pandemic.

“The project we put in front of the students was how we might support and empower seniors who were isolated,” says Connie-Marie Riedlhuber, seniors program coordinator with Volunteer Lethbridge. “What we needed was a low-cost, communication solution to reach isolated seniors.”

Last April, Volunteer Lethbridge started the Keep in Touch program with funding from the United Way. Riedlhuber knew many seniors would be isolated, especially those living alone, given the restrictions brought about by the pandemic. The program pairs volunteers with seniors for weekly phone support calls. Pieces of the Past adds another component to this program.

Although the hackathon ended last semester, Acojedo, a fourth-year psychology student, had the opportunity to implement the program through an applied study and an undergraduate Agility Fellowship. The Agility Fellowship program is a donor-funded program started by Bruce McKillop to enable students to complete a paid internship of 120 to 200 hours where they take a leadership role in a project of their choice. This semester, she’s developed protocols for the program and recently launched a pilot with a few volunteers to test it out.

“I learned so much during the hackathon and in my applied study and I’m thankful for everyone who helped our team with this project,” says Acojedo. “I learned tips and tricks on how to be disciplined and organized, but the biggest thing is leadership. I’m the one leading this project and that’s definitely an experience I’ve never had before. I’ve grown to be a better person and a better professional from these experiences.”

“I value the partnership we had with the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ students and what they were able to bring to us as an organization,” says Riedlhuber. “It was a gift to be able to work with them and help them have that integrated experience and — for us — to build something that we didn’t have the capacity to build on our own.”

March is Work Integrated Learning month and today, the National Day of Work Integrated Learning, offers an opportunity to celebrate the work U of L students do in the community while they are completing their education.

U of L students have been participating in co-operative education and work-integrated learning for the past 30 years and hundreds of students take part each academic year. Not only are they learning valuable skills for their future careers, they’re making a big difference by helping the Lethbridge community.

U of L students tackle food insecurity on campus

caroline.zentner — Mon, 15 Mar 2021 17:27:54 +0000

Through the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge’s Nourish initiative, student clubs have joined forces to decrease food insecurity on campus during March, which is Nutrition Month. With one in five students facing food scarcity, around 2,000 students sometimes run out of food and cannot afford to buy more.

The COVID-19 pandemic has prevented the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ from running some of its regular Nourish programs, including Buy a Student Breakfast and Dinner for Six. This year, the PACT (Philanthropy, Advancement, Community and Traditions) club, the U of L Students’ Union (ULSU), the Organization of Residence Students (ORS) and Agility have teamed up for the Swipe Out Hunger campaign.

Started by a group of friends at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of California, Los Angeles in 2010, Swipe Out Hunger is a non-profit organization that partners with universities and colleges to address hunger and food insecurity among post-secondary students. The U of L is the first Canadian university to partner with the organization.

“I’m very proud of our students for banding together this year to address food insecurity on campus,” says Dr. Mike Mahon, U of L president and vice-chancellor. “Under the umbrella of Nourish, we have launched several programs to combat hunger over the years, but this year has been particularly challenging due the pandemic and our students have faced limited employment opportunities to supplement their income. These student clubs have come up with some very creative ways to provide healthy food for our students and I encourage everyone to get involved in Swipe Out Hunger.”

“Students used to grab breakfast together or have a snack in the library or meet in Urban Market,” says Amy Lambert, a fifth-year student who’s a member of the ULSU and PACT. “Food brought joy and connection. You meet and talk and nourish yourself, both mentally and physically. That hasn’t been possible this year, but the need is still there. We wanted to partner with our local community members and Umami has been great within our U of L community, and they teach you about the actual process of nourishing.”

On Thursday, March 25, the student clubs have partnered with Umami Shop Canada to offer a basket of ingredients for Pad Thai (two to four servings), along with a Zoom cooking lesson to make the dish. The student clubs have secured funding for 175 baskets for students on a first-come, first-served basis and members will be helping pack the baskets in the days ahead of the cooking class.

They are also extending the offer to purchase a basket to anyone who’d like to participate. The baskets at $24.99 each plus GST can be ordered through Umami. Choose “Virtual Cooking Class” from the top menu and then click on the “Umami Pad Thai UofLxUmami” option to order a kit. Community members also have the option of adding a donation to support Nourish programs.

“Anyone who wants to support our U of L community is welcome to buy a basket,” says Lambert. “We are asking community members to place their orders by March 22 at the latest.”

In addition, the last two weeks of March will be devoted to increasing awareness of food insecurity on campus. Recipes from Dr. Angeliki Pantazi’s nutrition class will be made available online on the Food for Thought website. Students in the class worked with each recipe to add nutrition or lower costs.

This project was made possible because of programs like Agility, which is completely funded by donors, that support creative student-led projects.

“We are extremely grateful to our donors for making it possible for our students to apply their education to real-world projects,” says Brandy Old (BA/BEd '17), Agility manager. “They take risks and collaborate in innovative ways to bring real change and awareness to food scarcity.”

Agility is now an approved Mitacs incubator

caroline.zentner — Tue, 23 Feb 2021 20:44:23 +0000

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge graduate students and post-doctoral fellows with an entrepreneurial bent can access funding to further develop their business ideas now that Agility has been approved as an incubator for Mitacs Accelerate Entrepreneur projects.

Accelerate Entrepreneur funds would-be entrepreneurs to further develop the research or technology at the core of their startup business when they are hosted by an incubator facility. Along with the funding, entrepreneurs receive support from Agility with the goal of commercializing their technology, product or service.

“As soon as Agility was approved to be the Lethbridge incubator, it was obvious this will benefit our U of L innovators,” says Brandie Lea, U of L partnerships and commercialization coordinator. “Applications are already in the works to request funding. It is exciting to see a culture of innovation and startup creation on campus and we are looking forward to the companies and product development that will receive support from a very reliable funding partner.”

“This is a great opportunity for our aspiring entrepreneurs,” says Brandy Old (BA/BEd '17), Agility manager. “The entrepreneur acts as an intern for their own business and Agility supervises and supports them throughout the internship.”

To be eligible, the entrepreneurs must own their startup and have responsibility for the management and/or operations of the company (which must be incorporated). Once housed at an approved incubator, the company invests a minimum of $7,500 in funding for a research project. Mitacs matches the funds and the total amount of $15,000 is administered through the entrepreneur's professor as a grant. The minimum stipend paid to an intern is $10,000 and they can also access to up to $5,000 in flexible funding to pay for research costs such as laboratory materials or equipment.

The program gives entrepreneurs a funded internship so they have the opportunity to pilot and test a new product, service or technology or improve on an already existing one. Applications are accepted any time and evaluation is completed in six to eight weeks. Projects start at four months, but can be scaled up, depending on the startup’s needs.

A major benefit of the program is that it provides a safe space to test out an idea.

“The funding goes right back to the entrepreneur, so they are actually functioning as a working employee for their own startup at a very early stage,” she says. “The Mitacs program helps aspiring entrepreneurs take the risk and dedicate some time towards doing early ideation and validation of a business idea. They’ll learn what it takes to be an entrepreneur and test out if their research project has commercial potential.”

Old plans to offer Accelerate Entrepreneur students Agility’s Trailblazing program, an online incubator for early stage ideation and validation. The program focuses on identifying problems, doing customer discovery, making sales pitches, networking, organizing, managing time and getting involved in the community.

“This program is perfect for anyone who wants to be their own boss and is committed to learning how to do it fast,” she says. “Students often discredit their readiness to turn their ideas into businesses and programs like Mitacs Accelerate Entrepreneur help reduce the risk of taking the leap.”

Graduate students and post-doctoral fellows from any discipline are welcome to apply. For more information visit the Mitacs Accelerate Entrepreneur website or contact Brandy Old (brandy.old@uleth.ca) or Brandie Lea (brandie.lea@uleth.ca).

U of L students create secure platform for digital political engagement

trevor.kenney — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 17:23:58 +0000

The face of political engagement, everything from how you vote to how you interact with public representatives, may soon undergo a massive shift thanks to a new virtual platform created by ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge students.

Peter Hurd-Watler and his Veras Technologies Inc. group see blockhain as a solution for enhancing political engagement.

Veras Technologies INC. is a blockchain-driven, secure voting platform that allows users to sign in virtually and cast ballots from anywhere in the world. It reduces the need for polling stations, group gatherings and manual manipulation of ballots, creating access to the political process like never before.

“We were sitting around trying to come up with a project for a blockchain hackathon and started talking politics,” says Veras Chief Executive Officer, Peter Hurd-Watler, a fourth-year student in the Dhillon School of Business. “Divine (Okonkwo, a freelance graphic designer and Veras team member) tells me how much he doesn’t trust the electoral process in his native Africa and how they still use flimsy pieces of paper. I told him it was the same thing here in Canada, except with fancier pieces of paper!

“That was kind of the lightbulb moment and I thought blockchain could possibly be a solution for this.”

The group began working on its idea in May 2019. Hurd-Watler did an applied study course over the summer focusing on the value of blockchain in reducing vulnerabilities in Alberta’s current election system. By summer 2020, with support of the U of L’s Agility program, they were ready to test the concept at the 150Startups’ Innovation Rodeo student pitch competition. It won both the regional and final championships — as well as $10,000 and the opportunity for Hurd-Watler to go to Draper ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ in Silicon Valley in June 2021 for a five-week entrepreneurial accelerator program.

“Agility was really helpful in that they had a framework built on how to test your idea before putting a bunch of money into it,” says Hurd-Watler. “Their advice and guidance over the past year has been really important in helping us move this along.”

Brandy Old (BA/BEd '17) is the business advisor for Veras and the Agility program director. She says the blockchain approach used by Veras was a great starting point for the rising company.

“When I first started working with Peter, he had a bold idea that seemed impossible,” says Old. “His idea to introduce blockchain to solve an age-old problem illustrates how technology can unlock new and innovative solutions.”

Hurd-Watler studied at the U of L’s Lethbridge campus but moved back to Calgary due to classes being moved online. Veras is now working on developing the front-end, back-end, and blockchain of their Blockchain Smart Voting System with the help of their newest team member, Software Engineer Ismail Lawal.

The Veras platform answers the question: if we can do our banking securely through our smartphones, why can’t we vote using the same technology? If adopted, it potentially blows open the political process, creating easier access to voting for marginalized populations such as the disabled community that might have difficulty accessing polling stations, or First Nations and rural citizens who face long commutes to cast a ballot. In addition, military personnel stationed overseas could vote remotely using Veras.

“Some of the people we interviewed from marginalized communities were having trouble getting their voice heard,” he says. “This is all about connecting the people to the government and the government to the people. It’s beyond just voting.”

The Veras group also interviewed elected officials and discovered they too struggled to find a way to engage with constituents.

“Social media is bombarded with fake accounts and trolls and it’s hard for them to differentiate between real and fake voices,” says Hurd-Watler. “With Veras, your identity is linked to your account, so you know it’s a real person you are interacting with. Representatives can talk to their constituents and know it’s a legitimate interaction.”

Hurd-Watler is part of a youth demographic, aged 18-24, that realized just a seven per cent voter turnout in the last Alberta election. Through Veras, he hopes to see that change.

“We see Veras as a path to increasing voter turnout and accessibility,” he says. “We think this can be a consolidated hub for political voicing for both voters and elected officials that will really shape how future generations interact with their government.”

To learn more about Veras, go to Veras.ca.

New media students team up with City of Lethbridge on Oki initiative

trevor.kenney — Thu, 19 Sep 2019 21:16:42 +0000

Given the chance to contribute to City of Lethbridge Reconciliation Week efforts, three ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge new media students, working through the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ’s Agility Program, ran with the opportunity.

The Agility space has four 3-D printers for students to access.

Using 3D printers, the group designed desktop gifts depicting the traditional Blackfoot greeting, Oki, as a small stand-up sign. The gifts were then presented to dignitaries coming to the city for Reconciliation Week activities, as well as the mayors who attended the Mid-Sized Cities Mayors’ Caucus meeting.

“On Monday, Oki became the official greeting of the City of Lethbridge and we were looking for a way of providing a gift to some dignitaries coming to town that reflected Blackfoot culture and language,” says Indigenous Relations Advisor, Perry Stein. “As 2019 is the International Year of Indigenous Languages, we’re trying to celebrate that theme as part of Reconciliation Week and also trying to find those opportunities to make the conversation live beyond this week or even this year.”

Stein looked to the U of L’s Department of New Media, who in turn contacted the Agility Program. He met with new media assistant professor Christine Clark’s students (Jared Gyorffy, Connor Kingston and Sara Séfel) on a Friday afternoon and gave them the background they’d need for the project. By Monday morning, the designs were finalized and the pieces were being printed. By Thursday last week, the mayors were receiving their gifts.

The final product that was handed out to visiting dignitaries.

“Perry came and talked to the students about the reconciliation logo, the context of the oki sign and they were able to embody their own design effects into the process,” says Agility Manager Brandy Old. “It was neat to watch them listen to Perry and the city’s reconciliation plan because these were three students, one from Hungary, who don’t necessarily have much connection with the Blackfoot story. For them to understand the point of the project, what the reconciliation logo means and to walk through the federal government’s Truth & Reconciliation Commission was inspiring.”

For Stein, the project was an opportunity to use a community partner to foster relationship building.

“After city council officially adopted the Oki greeting, I think it sparked a curiosity we’d hoped it would and now people are trying to learn more and this was a unique way to keep that learning going,” he says. “Curiosity is a gateway to empathy, understanding, connection and community building. So, the more we can provide these really welcoming approachable opportunities to make connections, the better off we’ll be.”

The students, meanwhile, engaged in a practical exercise that led to a tangible result.

“From the Agility perspective, it is about connecting the student experience in the classroom and moving it beyond to actually having an impact,” says Old. “The students were able to bridge their technical skills to a meaningful project. This project is one example of how U of L students can apply their education to the real world. As advocates for reconciliation, these types of learning experiences connect our students to Indigenous perspectives and knowledge in a meaningful way.”

Agility program expands creative offerings for students

caroline.zentner — Tue, 04 Dec 2018 21:10:24 +0000

Since its inception in 2015, Agility has been living up to its name by expanding the ways it supports students who want to explore an innovative idea or develop their own business.

Agility, which got its start thanks to a donation from Dr. Cor Van Raay (LLD ’15), is totally funded by donors and designed to create multi-disciplinary experiential learning opportunities in innovation and entrepreneurship, as well as agriculture and agribusiness, social innovation and emerging technologies.

“There are huge opportunities in agriculture and agribusiness in southern Alberta for students,” says Dave Hinger, academic director of the Teaching Centre, which houses Agility. “We try to get students involved in some of those activities and help them understand the opportunities available to them in these fields.”

In addition to the Cor Van Raay Innovation Fund and the Cor Van Raay Agility Award in Agriculture, Agility is developing an agriculture entrepreneurs-in-residence program where ag experts spend a week on campus hosting seminars, visiting classrooms and making themselves available to students, staff and faculty to talk about their studies, research and career options.

Agility recently received a grant for nearly $15,000 from Alberta Innovates Institutional Support of Entrepreneurship Education (ISEE) and used it to create the Applied Innovation program.

“Applied Innovation is an online blended-learning model where students go through different modules to pursue their idea, whether it’s a social innovation idea for a fundraiser, community project or their own entrepreneurial idea,” says Brandy Old, program coordinator with Agility.

The program, with help from Old, takes students through the steps of organizing and validating their ideas. Ultimately, students create a vision, a mantra and document their plan. Participants are eligible for micro-credentials, certificates of participation, or course credit, if the program is completed through an applied study model.

Students with an entrepreneurial bent can apply for scholarships through the Bruce McKillop Agility Leaders of Tomorrow and the RBC Agility awards. Students can learn about opportunities in family and small business through the annual RBC Family & Small Business Summit.

Agility’s focus on social innovation aligns with the new School of Liberal Education and the theme of social justice. The Food for Thought fund, started with generous support from Dr. Jennifer Mather, tackles food security for students. Individuals or groups can apply for support for programs that address a specific need on campus, provide education about healthy food choices and preparation, and increase accessibility to healthy food.

A group of students works on a problem using a white board in one of the creative spaces on campus.

“We know from research that a lot of our students struggle with food insecurity,” says Hinger. “The ability to afford healthy food is not an issue unique to Lethbridge; it’s an issue across a lot of post-secondary institutions. We’re trying to get students working on how to solve this.”

Agility has also received a $10,000 grant from TD Friends of the Environment Fund to support incorporating Indigenous ways of knowing and Indigenous practices into the Campus Ecology Project. Mather donated funds to establish the project as a way of celebrating the U of L’s 50th birthday in 2017. Its goal is to create a more ecologically friendly campus. As part of an independent or applied study, students work on various aspects of the project, including wildlife, plants and habitats found on campus and what might be done to better the environment.

“The funding is meant to support student assistants coming in and assuming more of a leadership role in the programming, as well as physical resources for planting,” says Old.

Another new addition, in collaboration with Co-operative Education, is the entrepreneurial co-op. The first students to pursue such a co-op, Bariyaa Ipaa and Cecilia Reid, have worked with Old on developing their business – Art with Purpose.

“We are here to support students who have ideas about being an entrepreneur and also to help students see entrepreneurship as a viable career option,” says Hinger. “We focus on the skills students need to be entrepreneurs, which are valuable whether they create a business or not. We leverage our community partners like tecconnect, Economic Development Lethbridge, Community Futures and the ATB Entrepreneur Centre. We know that employers are looking for students who have those skills.

“The fourth area we focus on is emerging technologies, which give students a place to play and explore and see how these technologies can be used,” says Hinger. “With some of the programming changes we’ve seen on campus, there may be an opportunity for us to support students using new technologies like 3D printers and robotics.”

The Fine Arts Data Physicalization Lab allows students, typically graduate and senior students, to work with research data sets in unique ways. The lab is equipped with 3D printers, a robotic arm for video capture and a vinyl cutter. The Idea Shop in Markin Hall provides a low-tech space for students to work on their ideas. On top of this, an Innovation Zone will occupy a space in the new Science and Academic Building and Hinger is calling on faculty members for their input.

“We’re going to have this state-of-the-art space where students can come to explore, be creative, solve problems and innovate. It will be a very flexible space; we want to be able to host events like a pitch competition or a student exhibition,” says Hinger. “One of the reasons we’ve been successful is because of faculty working with us. We can’t do it without faculty involvement.”

U of L collaborates on developing new Grade 9 options course

caroline.zentner — Fri, 09 Jun 2017 18:05:24 +0000

A new options course developed at Kate Andrews High School gives students the chance to think outside the brick, the Lego brick that is.

When Lindsey Hagen, vice-principal, wanted to develop an additional Career and Technology Foundations (CTF) course in Entrepreneurship/Design Thinking for Grade 9 students, she turned to the Faculty of Education at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge.

Grade 9 students at Kate Andrews High School in Coaldale tackle a team task during the Lego Serious Play session.

“Currently in its optional year of implementation, CTF is designed for students to explore personal interests and related career possibilities and occupational areas,” says Leonard Sproule, an instructor in the U of L Faculty of Education. “At its core, CTF aspires to provide students with authentic learning experiences that make explicit connections between school-based learning and that of the working world.”

Sproule and Tyler Heaton, manager of AGILITY (the U of L’s innovation hub), met with Hagen to help with curriculum planning for the course. They included a session with Heaton as a guest speaker and with Dr. Stephen Dann, a visiting professor from Australia National ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ and a trained facilitator with Lego Serious Play, a method developed by Lego in the 1990s to stimulate creative thinking in people.

“This is a very different course than what students are typically exposed to because it is very much a problem solving, project-based, collaborative course,” says Hagen. “In the beginning, we noticed some students were hesitant to get started; they are more comfortable answering prescribed questions than generating their own ideas and responses to a challenge or problem. With the supports of the guest speakers, Tyler and Stephen, they grew in confidence.”

Heaton visited the classroom to lead sessions on problem identification and solving, prototyping and pitching ideas. The theme for the course was transportation and students were tasked with coming up with a solution to a transportation problem.

“It’s important to find a user’s perspective when you’re solving a problem,” says Heaton. “A design-thinking approach requires empathizing and understanding the problems a community might have and finding solutions that are the right fit for that user or that community.”

Dr. Stephen Dann, an Australia National ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ professor and trained Lego Serious Play facilitator, speaks to students in the Entrepreneurship/Design Thinking class.

In the Lego Serious Play sessions, Dann facilitated a process that involved asking the students to build a Lego model in response to a question. Each participant has the chance to explain how their model answers the question in as much detail as they are comfortable providing. Other participants can ask open-ended questions but not comment or remark upon someone’s model.

“Any group of people that you bring together in a meeting, when you get them to create something that’s theirs and that they can tell their story around, you open up a different line of thinking,” says Dann. “The first one is the hand-mind coordination. Because you’re using your hands in the process of preparing an answer, you unlock different pieces of memory and thinking. And the second one is, because it’s a metaphor and story-telling device, you can extrapolate thoughts and ideas you hadn’t necessarily considered when you were putting the pieces together.”

Dann says the students were enthusiastic participants in the Lego Serious Play sessions. Many commented about the fun they had working in a group and how they learned they could make complicated things from a few Lego bricks.

Hagen says the students also learned to work as a team and to respect the ideas and contributions of others. They saw the value of their ideas and opinions and learned more about solving problems creatively and using metaphor to express meaning.

“Getting the high schools and the universities that are doing new and interesting things together is a really great thing,” says Dann. “When the opportunity came up, I was immediately in because this is something that isn’t happening as much back home. I’m genuinely honoured that I got a chance to go out and work with everyone involved.”

“I am very grateful for the supports that I have received from partners at the U of L. Although we are in the beginning stages, we are encouraged by student response and feedback, and are looking forward to continuing to provide this course in design thinking,” says Hagen.

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