Classroom innovation continues to get a boost at Ryerson. Last month, eight projects funded through the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Fund (LTEF), got underway. The funding program, now in its third year and administered by the Learning and Teaching Office (LTO), supports classroom innovations that enhance the student learning experience as well as contribute to research around higher education teaching. It is also part of the strategic development of teaching practices at Ryerson.

“The LTEF has positively contributed to the university’s learning and teaching culture,” said John Isbister, interim provost and vice-president, academic. “In the classrooms, labs and work placements where these innovative learning strategies have been applied, students are interacting with the curriculum in different and more engaging ways.”

This year’s eight successful proposals will explore a variety of areas in teaching and learning, from a gesture and voice recognition system that could be easily deployed from any lecture podium to the digitization of Ryerson’s fashion research collection that includes rare couture, designer labels and fragile historic artifacts.

“Congratulations to all of this year’s grant recipients,” said Chris Evans, vice-provost, academic. “The competition for the program continues to be vigorous and this year’s recipients join a growing cohort of Ryerson faculty who are exploring new ways to enhance our learning and teaching environment.”

Below are the principal investigators and the titles of their projects from the 2012/13 funding round. Detailed descriptions of each project along with a complete list of co-researchers can be accessed here.

• Alexandre Douplik, Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, “Enhancement of the lecturer-students communication model via development of an interactively operated projection system equipped with gesture and voice recognition”

• Catherine Dowling, School of Interior Design, Faculty of Communication & Design, “In[sid] Outside: Building on Ryerson’s Arch App”

• Lisa Barnoff, Jennifer Clarke, May Friedman, and Jennifer Poole, School of Social Work, Faculty of Community Services, “Engaging students in the field: Possibilities for creative and innovative models for delivery of field education curriculum”

• Lu Ann Lafrenz, School of Fashion, Faculty of Communication & Design, “Digitizing the fashion research collection”

• Garrick Filewod, School of Image Arts, Faculty of Communication & Design, “Web-based tools for the teaching support of audio theory and practice”

• Mary Foster, Marketing Department, Ted Rogers School of Business Management, “Blended delivery of business essentials minor”

• Steve Daniels, RTA School of Media, Faculty of Communication & Design, “Tiles that Talk: From tangible tiles to software template for smart networked objects”

• Vincent Hui, Department of Architectural Science, Faculty of Engineering and Architectural Science, “Augmented reality in design development project”