ITS

The university’s new Timetable Builder application provides a convenient location for students to search for courses and easily create, optimize and share their intended course schedules.

Enterprise Applications & Solutions Integration (EASI) released the application earlier this month after a successful pilot at U of T Scarborough and extensive consultations across all three campuses.

“The previous timetable systems each provided students with partial information, forcing them to consult multiple sources,” says Rodney Branch, manager of client services and process integration, Student Information Systems. “The new Timetable Builder combines the best functionality from the earlier pilot with U of Scarborough, divisional applications and the now retired Course Finder.”

Using the new application, students can search for courses across divisions with greatly improved filtering and can view near real-time information about course sections. They can also manually or automatically generate a visual course timetable based on their preferred course sections and time preferences.

To date, the application has been released to U of T Scarborough, U of T Mississauga, the Faculty of Arts & Science, the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, the Faculty of Music and the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design. In the future, it will be released more broadly across the university.

User experience was a major focus leading to the success of the project. EASI’s user experience and process design team conducted university-wide interviews with students and created several prototypes for usability testing.

“At the beginning of the project, we conducted an environmental scan within and outside of U of T to see what timetable applications students were using,” says Stefanos Kythreotis, junior user experience designer with EASI. “It was challenging because each tool was unique and each division had its own requirements. To create an effective application, it was important to fully understand the student and staff perspective.”

In addition to the student facing application, staff can use the Online Administrative Student Information System (OASIS) to access the administrative interface. This interface gives academic divisions the ability to create a “legend” of division-specific information that will be displayed with each of its courses, as well as functionality to create and edit course or section-level notes individually or via a batch file upload.

Over the course of the project some potential future improvements were identified by the team and participating divisions. These include exporting a created timetable into a student’s ACORN enrolment cart, and the ability to pre-populate the timetable with courses a student has already enrolled in for the current session.

“The greatest benefit for students and staff is that they will only need to go to one place to search for courses across U of T,” says Branch. “I want to thank all of the divisions for their input and helping to optimize the application. We look forward to releasing this more broadly across U of T and streamlining the planning process for all students.”

U of T launches working group to tackle anti-Asian racism on campus

Christopher.Sorensen — Fri, 27 May 2022 14:34:43 +0000

U of T launches working group to tackle anti-Asian racism on campus

Christopher.Sorensen Fri, 05/27/2022 - 10:34

Cutline

(photo by Daria Perevezentsev)

Topic

Information and Technology

Cheryl Regehr

Faculty of Arts & Science

The University of Toronto has launched an Anti-Asian Racism Working Group to address anti-Asian racism on campus and take steps to make U of T more inclusive and welcoming to members of Asian communities.

As part of its mandate, the working group – co-chaired by Carol Chin, principal of Woodsworth College, and Vikram Chadalawada, assistant director, student information, Enterprise Applications and Solutions Integration and Information Technology Services – will consult U of T community members about their experiences with anti-Asian racism and review U of T’s existing policies, procedures, programming and practices.

It will then recommend actionable steps to respond to anti-Asian racism on the university’s three campuses and help build a respectful, accountable, equitable and inclusive community.

“One of the aims of the working group is to gather information on the range of experiences of racism of people belonging to different parts of the Asian community,” said Chin, an associate professor in the department of history in the Faculty of Arts & Science. “This is, of course, a very broad category and people will have different backgrounds, including being born and raised in Canada, born and raised in Asia and everything in between.

“We’re interested in hearing from as many people as would be willing to contribute their voices, and it’s about coalescing that into a coherent report and recommendations.”

The Anti-Asian Racism Working Group also plans to develop a tri-campus inventory of existing resources, initiatives and projects that address anti-Asian racism and advance inclusion for Asian community members, as well as review previous recommendations regarding anti-racism and inclusion practices made by U of T community members and other research-intensive universities.

A final report with the group’s recommendations will be delivered to U of T President Meric Gertler, Vice-President and Provost Cheryl Regehr and Vice-President, People Strategy, Equity and Culture Kelly Hannah-Moffat by the end of the year.

“As an institution and as a community, we have been concerned by recent incidents of anti-Asian racism here at U of T, in our city-region, and indeed across North America,” the three senior leaders said in a message to the U of T community. “It is our collective responsibility to develop strategies to dismantle barriers and enhance inclusivity for Asian members of the U of T community.”

Chin said the working group will draw on the experiences of previous anti-racism initiatives at the university to inform its processes and approach. She notes, for instance, that she regularly speaks with Roger Bulgin, co-chair of the Anti-Black Racism Task Force and chief administrative officer at Woodsworth, whose office is located next door. “I’m constantly poking my head in and saying, ‘Roger, when you did this or that, what did you learn?’” said Chin. “So, we will definitely be drawing on others’ experiences in terms of how to go about the process, what worked and what didn’t.”

Chadalawada, who is chair of the University Affairs Board in U of T’s Governing Council, said the working group aims to support the response to anti-Asian racism in every aspect of university life and interactions.

“This is not just for the Asian community,” he said. “It’s also for everyone who interacts with members of the Asian community at U of T – so, it applies to all of us.

“It’s also not just about students or staff or faculty, but also about extending awareness, supports and accountability to every interaction that takes place within the university – whether you’re a full-time member of the university community or a vendor, contractor or part-time or temporary worker who’s deployed into the university environment.

“We want to enhance the awareness of everyone who participates in university life, and we hope this approach opens doors to deeper, respectful, more meaningful conversations. I truly hope that, with the help of this working group, we are able to foster an inclusive mindset that is acknowledged broadly within the university community.”

The launch of the working group comes amid a sharp rise in instances of anti-Asian discrimination in Canada in recent years.

Jodie Glean, executive director, equity, diversity and inclusion at U of T, said that while anti-Asian racism is not a new phenomenon in this country, the COVID-19 pandemic has further stoked prejudice and bigotry.

“Systemic anti-Asian racism has unfortunately been a lived reality for diverse Asian communities for many years – historically and in the present day,” Glean said. “Without a doubt, the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated already existing inequities and inequalities, and the reality of xenophobia has continuously manifested itself in physical and verbal forms of violence against Asian community members.

“Therefore, there is a pressing need to be intentional in the ways we address anti-Asian racism and build initiatives for inclusion and belonging. The University of Toronto is looking forward to engaging the community on this important matter and carving out an informed approach to addressing anti-Asian racism across our tri-campus.”

Glean encouraged members of the U of T community to direct any questions about the Anti-Asian Racism Working Group to psec.equity@utoronto.ca.

She added that a call for members for the working group will be shared with the U of T community in the coming weeks.

Information Technology Services

sgupta — Thu, 07 Jan 2016 20:47:15 +0000

Information Technology Services sgupta Thu, 01/07/2016 - 15:47

URL

https://its.utoronto.ca/

ITS

Planning for the future: U of T launches new student timetable builder app

U of T launches working group to tackle anti-Asian racism on campus

Information Technology Services

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